


Magic

by astarpen



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2018-12-30 12:58:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 79,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12109215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astarpen/pseuds/astarpen
Summary: After getting kicked out at sixteen for getting pregnant, Santana has worked hard to support her son Antonio and give him the best life she can as a single mother. Making minimum wage while trying to support a growing boy is difficult, but all that changes when she answers a strange add in the paper to become a magician's assistant.





	1. Chapter 1

**Pandora’s Antiquities.**

Santana stared at the address that she had written down, and then looked back at the worn down shop. This _couldn’t_ be right. She had never even been to this part of the city before and it seemed old and weathered despite all the other shops around it. It looked completely out of place, like it was in dire need of an update. It looked like a store from way back in the day, before modern technology had hit and it didn’t sit right with her. Even with all the other stores around, and the flats on top, the store didn’t seem like it got a lot of foot traffic. It was almost enough to make her turn around and walk away, there was probably no way that they could pay the outrageous salary that they had promised in the advertisement that she had seen.

Thirty dollars an hour to be a magician’s assistant? It sounded far too good to be true, but she figured it was just how much she would be making a show. A few shows a week—well even just two shows at an hour a piece was sixty dollars more than she would make working at the diner. A bit more cash would help out a great deal especially with Antonio. It was nearly back to school and she felt a bit guilty, she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to afford all his back to school supplies this year. For once she’d like to give her son something that hadn’t been used before and clothes that fit properly. For him, it was worth _trying_ at least. If it was a scam, then it was a scam but she needed to try.

Santana exhaled and grabbed the door to the store, feeling a _buzz_ underneath her fingertips. She had worked in the service industry; she could _do this_. How hard could it possibly be to wear a few sequins and smile at an audience and maybe help with the illusions. She opened the door and walked in, fixing a pleasant smile on her face. She froze, there was no one in the store and instead of magic tricks and card tricks laid out on the table, it just seemed to be a bookstore. Her heart dropped a bit, and she looked around. “Uh—hello?” she called out. She walked up to the old worn down counter and spotted a bell on the counter. She glances at the doorway behind the counter. There’s a black curtain hanging there to prevent any prying eyes and that feeling of unease is back, but she was here and there _probably_ wasn’t a crazed knife wielding psychopath behind the curtain, she looks at the bell again before hitting it.

There’s a loud crash that comes from the curtain causing Santana to jump back in surprise. “No, no, no!” Came a male voice from behind the curtain.

Santana winces and takes a step back, if that was the person who was supposed to be hiring her then she had not made a good first impression, she could still salvage this. She just needed to be charming and—she pauses and glances down to the ground, she could have sworn that something green had just darted across the floor in her peripheral vision. “Uh?” She begins again only for the curtain to be pulled back and a man with wild blonde hair and startling hazel eyes comes tumbling out a sour look on his features. She had most definitely messed something up already and this didn’t bode well for her future job. “Hello, I’m Santana and I’m—” She stopped when he held up his hands.

“Do you have any idea how long it took me to catch the damn thing?” He demanded angrily, he grabbed a towel and wiped what appeared to be some viscous fluid off his hands. He grimaced and tossed the towel away before studying the woman in front of him carefully. He squints a bit at her, “What are you even doing here? The sign says closed, and I’m _pretty_ sure I locked the store.”

Santana turns to glance at the door, “The only sign in the window says ‘Help Wanted.’ And the door was unlocked, when I tried it—look do you have a manager or someone you work for, I’m looking for a—” Santana glances at the paper and then back at the man in front of her. “Mr. Fabray? I saw this add in the newspaper and I came to apply for the job. You know as the magician’s assistant—”

He squints at her again, and leans forward before looking at the shop window and then back at her, then back at the shop window again before looking at her. “You’re hired.”

Santana stared at him like he had lost his head, “Excuse me?”

“You’re hired. When can you start? Tomorrow? Please tell me you can start tomorrow. As you can see things have been—hectic since my last assistant.” He makes a face, “You have no idea what I’ve needed to do to survive! I don’t know how people live like this.”

“Like—?”

“I don’t know _this_.” He waves his hand around wildly. “How am I supposed to create magic like this?”

“Uh—” Santana began this was quickly beginning to seem like a terrible mistake. She had just met a crazy person, of course he was probably talking about his illusions. Then again he had just hired her just like that.

“So you’re hired Samantha,” he said eagerly.

Santana’s eyes narrowed. “ _Santana_. My name is Santana. Look, Mr. Fabray—”

“Ugh, don’t call me that. That’s my father’s name. Mr. Fabray,” he shudders at the thought. “The names is Charles Reagan Fabray. You may call me Charlie. Charles never really stuck, but whoever heard of a magician named _Charlie_.” Charlie makes a face at his own name. “So is that a yes on starting tomorrow?”

He was definitely crazy, she should just turn the job down and walk away but she needed the money. Maybe she could negotiate with him. He did seem pretty desperate to hire someone and it wasn’t as if this place was crawling with people either trying to apply. A position that paid thirty dollars an hour in this town, who had people who _wanted_ to be famous—it was practically unheard of. “Look, uh Charlie, I’ve got another job and responsibilities and I’m not quite sure I can learn what I need to learn to help you do magic by tomorrow—what happened to your last assistant?”

“Poached,” Charlie explains his face twitching in annoyance. “What happened to _loyalty_?” Charlie mused.

Santana sighed as he turned around and began to rummage through one of the many drawers, “Look, Charlie, I’m sorry your assistant got poached but I don’t think this job is right for me. I mean, this place seems pretty run down and I don’t know how much business you get—I don’t really want to wear sequins or you know smile all the time—”

“So don’t? I don’t have a dress code or anything, just no open-toe shoes. There was an incident with my last assistant—it was a mess. You can wear sequins if you want, I’m not going to stop you, and you don’t have to smile if you don’t want to. It’s weird when people smile and they aren’t happy.” Charlie insists not bothering to look at her as he continued to root through the drawer.

“Okay, so what are the hours—I mean you have a schedule right, practice time? It’s going to need to be flexible, I’m working at a diner and that’s a bit of a commute but—I really need the flexibility because I have a six-year-old.”

It’s enough to get Charlie to turn to her. “So quit, this is a full-time job.”  Charlie insists slamming a drawer closed and opening another. “You can be as flexible as you want when it comes to your child, I understand that being a mother must be difficult, my mother informs me of this fact every time I see her, but you’re not going to have time for _another_ job.” He snorts derisively before slamming another drawer shut. “I can’t believe they took my brownies. I mean _come on_.”

“Brownies?” Santana asks before she can stop herself. She shakes her head when he turns to look at her. “Never mind, look I just don’t think that this is going to work out—”

Charlie looks up incredulously. “I can offer you more money if that’s what this is about. Fifty dollars an hour. Or do you want a salary? I can do a salary—” He cocks his head at the side, “Forty hours a week at fifty dollars an hour, that’s twenty thousand a week?” He frowns. “No, wait two thousand—” He pauses and thinks about it for a second, four times five was twenty and then add two zeros. “Right, two thousand.”

Santana gapes. There has to be something wrong with him. “You’re talking real money, not like monopoly money or some other—”

“I can pay you in euro’s if you want.”

“No I don’t want euro’s—” Santana closes her eyes and tries to shake herself back into reality, “What’s the catch?”

“Catch? There’s no catch? I mean unless you see anything running around here. You might have to catch a creature every once in a while, but—” A bang interrupts him from the back and he frowns. “Look, I really need you to start tomorrow. What will it take?”

Santana frowns. It almost sounds too good to be true but from everything he’s saying she has no reason to say no. Still, he seems desperate and she’s not about to give in to his first offer. “Well it is a little bit of a commute.”

“So move into one of the apartments upstairs. I own the whole building and you can have whatever one you want. Hell, you can have my last assistant’s apartment. She renovated it so it’s pretty modern and I think there are schools nearby, I see teenagers all the time.”

“And you know I’ve never done this before.”

“I hope not. I can’t deal with another unionized assistant; I couldn’t even pay one of them to work with me.” He adds the last part under his breath. He hates the union. Especially since most of them _thought_ they actually could assist him.

Santana’s eyes narrowed skeptically. “Why not?”

“Because, they’ve already been taught. Every magician is different; I don’t have time to break bad habits or correct things. I need someone who has never done this before so I can teach them what I need them to know. The last thing I need is another _incident_ , because someone decided to not listen to my instructions.” Charlie studies Santana, “Don’t cut corners, and _listen_ to me and you’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be fine?” She repeats. He almost makes it sound like something _dangerous_. “You said your last assistant was poached.”

“She was, so was my first one, the one in the middle _well_ —look I need an assistant and since you’re _new_ I’ll take the time to teach you what I need you to know, I won’t ask you to do anything that you’re not ready for.”

Santana can’t believe it. She had been kicked out at sixteen when she got pregnant with Antonio and barely got her GED. A job earning over a hundred thousand dollars a year? She would be able to go back home and show her parents that she had _made_ something of herself despite having a child. One they had wanted her to get rid of. “Okay, before I agree you’re going to need to tell me about the benefits. Do you offer dental?”

He nods quickly, glad that his turncoat of a former assistant had at least forced him to get a standard benefit package. And by _standard_ he meant the best package that was available. “Vision too.”

“What about a signing bonus?” She asks, mostly just shooting for the stars at this point. She can’t think of a _single_ reason to say no and if it gets Tony out of the terrible public school he’s currently in and away from the gangs that seem to pour out of their subsidized government housing, she’s all for it.

Charlie crinkles his nose, even though he was paying her tremendously less than a unionized assistant, she was definitely bargaining like one but he really was desperate. It had been two months since he had put the sign up in the window, and she had been the _only_ person to see it. Not to mention to see his ad in the paper and come down to the store. “Fine, just be here first thing in the morning.” He stops and looks at Santana who seems to be interested in pushing her luck. “Anything else?”

“Can I see the apartment beforehand?” She would need to fill in some paperwork, but with the signing bonus she could _hire_ someone to take care of all the moving for them. Then she could do some research on the schools in the area and maybe she could send Antonio to a really good school.

Charlie nods and opens another drawer, and frowns. He was definitely going to go out later today and get a new family of brownies. At least then he’d be able to find things again. He grabs a set of keys and motions for Santana to follow him out of the store so she can see her new apartment.  He should probably get some papers drawn out so she doesn’t get poached.


	2. Chapter 2

Santana sighed as she looked both ways before crossing the street, holding her son’s hand tightly as she shifted the Mickey Mouse backpack on her shoulder. She hoped that she had packed him enough snacks and activities to last the entire day before they made the commute home. Taking your kid to work on the very first day of work, was _not_ going to make a good impression but she didn’t have another choice. Her usual childcare arrangements had fallen through and she didn’t have time to find someone else so last minute. Well, not without alerting her boss at the diner that she wasn’t actually out sick. She had never called in sick before, but she wasn’t quite ready to get rid of the safety net. This really did seem too good to be true and six years of being on her own, had taught her to be weary. Things that seemed to go to be true, generally were. “Mijo, this job is _super_ important to mommy okay? So I’m going to need you to please behave yourself.”

Antonio looked up at her carefully as they walked down the street, before nodding carefully. “I’ll be good mommy.”

Santana smiles warmly, if he promised to be a good boy he was going to _be_ a good boy. She had raised him as best as she could and she had gotten lucky that he was such a decent kid, which was why she needed to get him out of that neighborhood. They’d come for him eventually and moving out now while he was this young was the best possible thing for them. It worried her that he wasn’t very good at making friends, and he was a bit shy. Maybe all that would change now. “You know, my new boss—he does magic.”

It’s enough to get Antonio to turn to her his eyes wide. “Really?”

“Yeah—I’m going to be his assistant, so maybe he can teach you a few tricks, or he can at least show you some. You know a magician never reveals his secrets,” Santana smiles as they make their way to the store, in the early morning it doesn’t look quite as shabby as it did the previous day. Maybe she had just been hypercritical. She shakes her head and opens the door, holding it open for Antonio to go inside. “Please don’t touch anything and _be_ careful not to step on anything Antonio. I think he loses his animals a lot.”

Antonio froze and immediately looked down at the ground suspiciously, he didn’t want to accidentally step on an animal. “Can I play with his pets?” Antonio asked.

Santana hesitated for a moment, if Charlie was losing his creatures all the time then he probably wasn’t the _most_ responsible person she had ever met. Plus, she was certain that he was a tiny bit certifiable. “Well, we’ll see what pets he has and then we can ask him, okay?” Antonio nods eagerly and she smiles at him once more before turning to look at the store. It was _definitely_ cleaner than it had been the day before, in fact it looked absolutely spotless and organized. It almost looked like a _proper_ store. “Wow.”

The curtain behind the counter flung open and Charlie stumbled out a huge grin on his face. “Santana!” He paused and glanced at the clock on the wall. “You’re late, but I’ll let it slide, look at how clean this place is! Organized as well. Who knows we might be able to open the shop today and—” Charlie trails off his eyes resting on the child beside Santana, who immediately ducked behind Santana’s legs. “Santana, don’t look now but it seems you were followed in by a _dwarf_. I’ve never seen a hairless dwarf before. Usually they’re quite hairy, got into a drinking contest with one before. I lost. Never gamble or drink with dwarves. Bad for the liver and your wallet, greedy little bastards. I’m actually sort of jealous, I’ve always wanted that type of facial hair or at least the chest hair. Maybe I can—”

Santana stared as Charlie trailed off and began to open drawers again before pulling out a notepad and a pen and began to jot down some notes on his paper. “No Charlie, I know it’s completely unprofessional to bring your kid to work on the first day but the person I normally leave him with is sick. He won’t be any trouble, all I need to do is set him up and he’ll be fine for a few hours.”

Charlie stops writing and looks back at Antonio, “Well that certainly explains the lack of impressive facial and chest hair.” He tilts his head towards Antonio for a moment and then at Santana and then back at Antonio. “I hadn’t gotten around to child-proofing the store yet,” he admits apologetically. “Or the building. It was on my list of things to do—but I lost the list.”

Santana blinked, “You were going to childproof the store?”

“Yes of course, but I forgot,” Charlie frowns. “I only just got a new assistant,” Charlie flashed her a smile and turned back to the boy who was still hiding behind Santana.

Santana immediately steps aside, “Antonio, don’t be rude come say hello to my boss. Mr. Fabray—” She glances at Charlie who makes a face. “Uh—Charlie, he’s a magician.”

Antonio looked at the ground and shuffled forward a bit, “Hello,” he mumbles quietly immediately trying to hide behind his mom again.

“Antonio—now that’s a proper name for a magician,” Charlie mused and shook his head. “Hello, Antonio. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Charlie said in a friendly tone. He opens another drawer and turns his attention back to Santana. “You’re going to need to sign a contract, you know confidentiality agreement as well as you know the employment contract. It’s pretty standard, but we need to make it official.”

Santana nodded, she had been expecting this. She had done a bit of research last night into the world of magicians. This seemed to be par for the course, “Of course,” she said nodding. He had been poached before so him being a bit paranoid of his tricks being stolen made sense. She approaches the counter taking the pen that he had offered and quickly signs her name where he points.

“Sign there, and there, and there,” Charlie mumbled flicking his eyes to the child that was sticking pretty close to Santana. The child was staring at him suspiciously and Charlie couldn’t help but stare back. He had always believed in the philosophy that you shouldn’t trust little people. He tears his eyes away from the boy and turns back to Santana who had cleared her throat.  “One more,” Charlie said pointing to the last page. He studies it for a moment, “Good. You’re now officially my assistant.” He opens the drawer and dumps the contract back into it and pulls out a check. “There’s your signing bonus. Don’t spend it all in one place.”

She gawks over the amount as Antonio studies Charlie with a disapproving gaze. “You don’t look like much of a magician.”

“Antonio!”

“You don’t look like much of a dwarf.” Charlie retorts defensively. He’s a great magician.

Santana frowns, shaking her head. “Come on Tony, let’s find you a place and you can get settled. Then mommy can get to work.” She grabs his arm to lead him to a far corner and offers Charlie an apologetic smile, but Tony doesn’t budge.

But Charlie doesn’t see it, his brow furrowed. “I’m a great magician.” He says mostly to himself, then brightening he nods toward Tony. “Go on then, what type of trick do you want me to do? Saw your mom in half?” He was a child, he probably liked that type of illusion magic.

Tony frowns and shakes his head. “Can you pull a bunny out of a hat?”

Charlie grimaces. It was probably just as well, the last woman he had sawed in half—well, that hadn’t ended well. He was never really great at _that_ type of magic, that the normal people did. “No. No bunnies. They’re creepy with their beady little eyes and homicidal desire for carrots. I can do better.” He squints at Antonio, “You’re a boy right? Right, you look like one, so how about a dragon. I can do dragons.”

Antonio crinkled his nose, “Dragons don’t exist.”

Santana watched the exchange but she could see that Antonio’s interest was relatively peaked. She was interested as well as Charlie began to rummage through the drawers till he picked out a piece of chalk and immediately drew a circle on the counter his hands moving quickly almost a blur of movement, he had clearly done this before and if it was part of the act it seemed to entrance her son. She wondered if she would have to learn how to do that in front of an audience. He finished and put the piece of chalk down studying it carefully.

“Okay, right a dragon,” Charlie said after making sure his lines were perfect. He touches the middle of the summoning circle with precision watching as the entire circle lit up. He heard a gasp but ignored it, summoning was _tricky_ business and summoning a dragon was difficult enough without all the distractions.

A glow fills the room as he concentrates, it’s a small summoning circle which meant that the dragon would be of a comparable size. The light show that is currently being emitted from the center of the circle. Rays of light start bursting from the central sphere that seems to be a glowing ball of fire—it’s not an actual fire ball, those take a little more work, but it’s actually a concentration of the magical energy. The rays start to alternate in different colors, no longer white but brilliant flashes of blues and greens. That’s good, it means it’s not going to be an overly aggressive dragon.

When the light dies down, Charlie immediately places his hand on the small cat-sized black dragon, running his fingers between the two small curved horns that was on his head, to calm the dragon down before it panicked. The dragon immediately flexes its wings spreading out as it gets on its two hind legs letting its tongue fall out of its mouth before it fell back onto all four legs and curled up into a ball and promptly falling asleep.

“No way.” Tony gasps in awe. “No _way_!” He repeats again.

“What the fuck is that?” Santana blinks.

Charlie shrugs. “It’s a dragon. That’s what I said—I said I was going to conjure a dragon.”

“I thought you meant some stuffed animal or a _toy_.” Santana shrieked when the little dragon coughed up a small fireball in its sleep.

“Why would I summon a _toy_ when I could summon a dragon?” Charlie asked. He shook his head. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter—every boy needs a pet dragon.” Charlie gently picks up the dragon and bends over so he can give it to Antonio. “I had a dragon when I was a boy, I wasn’t very good when it came to pets. Maybe you’ll have better luck. But before I give him to you, admit that I’m a _fantastic_ magician.”

“Really I get to keep it?” Tony’s jaw dropped. His mom’s new boss was the _coolest person ever_.

“Of course, like I said every boy needs a pet dragon,” Charlie insists not even bothering to look at Santana who looked as if she was close to having a coronary. “Good news is, it’s probably sentient which means it’ll understand you, dunno if it can talk back. But it can understand you, so it’s easier. We’ll have a look when it wakes up,” Charlie says with a shrug of his shoulders helping Antonio so he’s holding the dragon properly. “Doesn’t mean that you won’t have to train him, training him is important. Oh, if you’re going to train a dragon—” Charlie stood up quickly and headed into the area behind the curtain and rummaged around for a bit before coming back with a container. “There you go, dragon treats. Only give it to him when he’s good and you’re also going to need—” Charlie hops over the counter and moves to one of the book shelves before grabbing a relatively thin book and handing it to Antonio. “This. You’re going to need this. How to train your dragon. It has pictures.”

Santana stood stock still, shocked at what she had just witnessed. It _couldn’t_ be real. This was just some hallucination that didn’t quite make any sense. Dragons _didn’t_ exist in the real world, and yet in her son's arms was some sort of _lizard_ thing that could breath fire. What the _hell_ had she signed up for?

Antonio grabbed the book and the container of food and quickly moved to a quiet corner without his mom prompting him. “Thank you Mr. Charlie!” He said after he put the dragon down on the ground as gently as he could. He immediately flopped down on the ground and opened the book and began to look through the pictures.

“Just—you know what nevermind.” Charlie said dismissively getting up and stretching. “He’s going to need to make sure that it doesn’t terrorize the brownies. They probably aren’t going to be thrilled about a dragon in the house. But at least he’s distracted. Maybe I should have gone with something else entirely. A gargoyle. Haven’t summoned one of those in a while.” Charlie mused moving to get behind his counter again. “Kind of a boring pet, bit creepy too—hmm a gargoyle dragon, that would have been interesting.”

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Santana finally seems to be able to come to herself. This man just gave her son a fire breathing dragon as a pet like it was no big dea. Nevermind the fact that she had been expecting a damn card trick and he summed a fucking dragon. For her six year old. A dragon. “A _dragon_ that breathes _fire_?”

“It’s _barely_ fire.” Charlie dismisses. At that size and age it was more like the heat of a light bulb. He wasn’t _that_ irresponsible. Well he was, but still he wanted to keep this assistant. “He’s perfectly safe.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Santana snaps at him causing him to cock his head at her. “What the _hell are you_?”

Charlie sighs, “I’m a _magician_. We’ve been over this and you’re my assistant. Your son is perfectly safe and from the looks of it is very into his new pet. Don’t worry, dragons are like cats, but he’s a child so you now have something that will protect your son no matter what. They’re loyal like that.”

“I was expecting _card_ tricks, and you know being sawn in _half_ and doing children’s birthday parties and maybe doing a few stage shows—not—not what the hell did you do!”

“Well that’s ridiculous. I’m a magician, not some fraud.” Charlie huffed. Every once in awhile he was strapped for something to fill his time with and he dabbled, but he didn’t trust small humans. “Do you want me to do a card trick?”

“ _No_ —you’ll probably I don’t know—turn them into something strange.” Santana waved her hands wildly. This wasn’t normal and she should have trusted her gut instinct. But a job that was _this_ good, she had known that there was a catch, she had just never suspected it would be this.

“Transmogrification is hardly a specialty of mine, I mean if given time to prepare then maybe—”

“You said that you were a magician.”

“I _am_ a magician.” Charlie repeats studying her. He pinches the bridge of his nose, maybe he should have done a card trick to break her into this world. “Okay, you need to calm down and let me explain. Long story made ridiculously short, _magic_ as you know it exists. It’s considerably more complicated than simply waving a wand around or throwing fireballs—but you know throwing fireballs is cool and so much fun. Things that you believed only existed in stories and myths—well myths and stories had to come from somewhere don’t they?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Why doesn’t everyone know about this? Why aren’t there vampires and elves and you know werewolves roaming the streets. We _live_ in the information age, how does the mass public not know about you?”

“Because mass panic and hysteria isn’t good for the human condition?” Charlie shrugs. “We have _people_ in the government, high ranking people that keep us in check. Look honestly, we have _strict_ laws that govern most magicians. We have a government of our own, we have schools and we have punishments when one of us does something that breaks the rules.”

Santana exhales slowly, “So like Harry Potter.”

Charlie sighed, it probably wouldn’t do Santana any good to find out that JK Rowling was a magician. “No. Close, but it’s nothing like Harry Potter at all. Reality is much cooler and scarier than anything she could have written.”

“Okay, fine, let’s say that I believe you and that there is some secret society of wizards—”

“Magicians, we’re _magicians_ ,” Charlie corrects. He didn’t go around waving some phallic object in his hand and shouting spell words.

“Whatever, so there’s some secret society of _magicians_ out there, I can’t do any of that stuff. How am I supposed to _assist_ you? I thought I was just going to need to get on stage with you maybe perform a few slight of hand tricks that you’d teach me—I didn’t think we’d be summoning dragons. I can’t _do that_.”

“Well you might _have_ been able to if you had gone to school for it and apprenticed with a magician, you certainly have some latent magical ability, whether that translates into actual magical ability is another thing entirely. You saw my ad, and more importantly you passed the second test. You saw my help wanted sign. You clearly have a gift of seeing what isn’t there, which is the only reason I offered you this job. If I didn’t think you could do it—I’m not _that_ desperate.” Charlie studied Santana for a moment. “Did you really think I was giving you _that_ salary for doing card tricks?”

“I asked you if there was a catch and you said I might have to catch some creatures. I can do that—I don’t know if I can do _this_. I’m not—you _summoned a dragon_!”

“Well you’re my assistant, you’re not my apprentice. I’m not old enough to have an apprentice. A lot of what you’ll be doing is well—” He frowns. He doesn’t actually know his last assistant had been pretty self-sufficient. He didn’t actually know what he was paying her for but things got done and she always left a plate of cookies out for him. “Look, you’re my assistant, you I don’t know _assist me_.”

“You’re going to need to be a bit more specific than that.” Santana blinks, she was beginning to wonder what had happened to all of his assistants before her. “What happened to your assistant?”

“She got poached, I told you that,” Charlie answers honestly. He narrowed his eyes, this is why he didn’t trust anyone.

“And the one before that?” Santana presses immediately.

Charlie hesitated for a moment. There had been three assistants in total, two of which had gotten poached. The second one, he didn’t like talking about. “Oh look, the dragon seems to be waking up, let’s go see if it can understand human speech—” At Santana’s persistent look, he sighed. “Well it’s not like he could walk that well _before_. And he’s the idiot that wanted to prove his worth by taking on a manticore when I expressly told him to stay put. The way he tells it, the whole mess was my fault and it’s the reason the union won’t work with me. I told him to stay put and that I knew what I was doing.”

“Did you?”

“Of course, not it was a damn manticore! I was called in to exterminate the damn thing. All you need to know is that I would never put someone else in danger when I’m being foolish.”

“Are you ever _not_ foolish?” Santana asks before she can stop herself. “What are you going to say next? That you’ve _killed_ someone with a unicorn horn.”

“That’s ridiculous, unicorn products can’t _kill_ anyone. They’re assholes though, never met a unicorn that wasn’t. No idea why people like them so much.”

Santana throws up her hand. “ _That_ is what you call ridiculous?” He gives her a patronizing smile and she resists the urge to smack him. He could probably turn her into a toad or something. “I—”

“Look, Santana. You’re perfectly safe with me, so long as you do exactly what I say and you don’t cut corners. I’m not going to put you or your son in any danger. I mean I’m pretty sure my last assistant kept the shop running most of the time while I was out on business. I do the dangerous stuff, you stay in my nice _heavily_ warded store and deal with customers and doing research and you know—all the boring stuff I don’t want to do. Like laundry. I don’t know how to get snotling snot out of my clothes without ruining them.”

Santana chews on her cheek. that didn’t sound nearly as bad as she thought it would be. She’s definitely used to getting weird unmentionable stains out of her son’s clothes. “No more summoning dragons, and that thing needs to go.”

Charlie winces and scratches the stubble on his chin. “About that, I can’t really send it back.” At her almost murderous look, he frowned. “I mean, I suppose I can give it to a zoo or something—”

“What the hell do you mean you can’t send it back?”

“Well do you ever hear of an _anti_ -summoning spell? No.”

“I’ve never heard of a damn _summoning_ spell.” Santana retorts.

“Look Santana, I can’t send it back. I didn’t actually put that in the spell,” Charlie admits. In _hindsight,_ it wasn’t his smartest move. “But look at it,” Charlie points over to where the dragon is currently curled up into Antonio’s side. It was awake and it seemed to be listening to every word Antonio was babbling excitedly. “You shouldn’t separate a boy and his dragon.”  

“You had a dragon, what happened to it?”

“It got eaten by a griffin that was—is trying to murder me,” Charlie waves his hand. “It protected me, and that’s all that matters.”

Santana’s jaw dropped and then she closed it, she didn’t even know how to _retort_ to that. It was a good thing that she hadn’t quit her job. She wasn’t sure that the fancy apartment and the salary she was getting was worth her sanity. She turns to Antonio who was kicking his feet and slowly reading the book Charlie had given him. The money may not be worth it, but giving her son the best possible chance at a good life certainly was. She swallows, Charlie had said that he was going to childproof the store. It was more than her old boss had ever done. More than Antonio’s own father had ever done. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Charlie presses.

“I’ll be your assistant, but I’m going to need to actually have a job description—what did your last assistant do for you?”

Charlie made a face at this, “Alright, alright—I’ll go ask her to give me a complete breakdown of what she did and maybe some helpful tips for you. You can watch the store right? I’ve been closed since forever and I really need to start working again. I’m behind on like all my orders.”

“Nothing’s going to pop out of a drawer and eat me, right?” Santana checks. Better to be safe than sorry..

“No.” Charlie pauses and opens the drawers to check to make sure. “Yeah, no. I’ll probably be back in a few hours. If anyone does come in just tell them that they’re orders will be ready when things get a bit organized. And whatever you do, don’t go past the black curtain—just don’t.”

Santana nods, she can do that she knows how to operate a cash register. “Okay, if I have any questions—”

“Call me. You probably won’t need to call me though, most people who come in here are _assistants_ and they’re unionized so talk to them, see what they’d suggest for someone just starting out. I’ll ask my last assistant.”

Santana nods, “Anything else?” She frowns when Charlie looks around the store, he was probably the most disorganized person ever.

“Oh right, a book on basic safety,” Charlie pulls a book from one of the shelves and tosses it onto the counter. “Start reading that. It’s important.”

Santana eyes the book that has to be a couple thousand pages thick. The door chimes and Santana looks up to realize that she and Tony are completely alone in this—whatever the hell this place is. What the fuck had she gotten herself into?


	3. Chapter 3

“The only way to save someone from manticore venom, is to kill the manticore from which the venom came. The venom which is magical in nature is tied to the presence of the—” Santana let out a low groan and resisted the urge to hurl the book across the room. This was _impossible,_ she didn’t even know what a manticore was.  If she hadn’t seen her new boss summon a dragon in front of her she’d think that this whole thing was some sort of prank. A very sick prank.  She wondered how Charlie expected her to memorize this entire book by the time he got back. She had _barely_ made it through the different types of fire and how to put them out.

Even if she didn’t completely understand everything the book said, she knew what fire was. Fire was something she could visualize, sure she didn’t know what the difference between hellfire and vaelfire but the concept was simple. She couldn’t even begin to visualize what was going on in the Poison and Prevention section. This wasn’t anything like the child safety books that she had when Antonio was crawling around. She knew what bleach was. She had no idea what nightshade even looked like, let alone what a manticore was. She exhales slowly and marks the page carefully, so she could ask Charlie later and looks at the next page. “The _hell_ is a _haunt_?”

Her frustrated tone is enough to draw Antonio’s attention away from his pet dragon who immediately wandered off. “What’s wrong mommy?” Antonio asked pushing himself to his feet and heading over to the counter.

“I don’t think I can do this job.” She admits. She’s never been one to bullshit, especially not with her son. It’s her favorite thing about being a mom, she doesn’t have to do it the way her parent’s did. Even though Antonio is six, he’s a smart kid and it’s important for him to see that she’s not perfect either. “My boss is crazy.”

Antonio nods seriously. “Yeah, he was really weird. His _socks_ didn’t match.”

Santana rolls her eyes. Trust her kid to focus on _that_ and ignore the whole dragon summoning thing. “I think maybe we should slip out before he realizes that I have no magical ability at all.”

“You always know when I sneak candy or I am playing with my toys instead of going to sleep.” Antonio reminds her. Other kids at school didn’t seem to get it. There was _nothing_ he could do without his mom already knowing about it. “That’s probably magic, right?”

Santana frowns. She’s always joked about her Mexican Third Eye, but it was never really something she could explain. “No, I’m sure—” The door jingles and a blonde woman who seems glued to her tablet glides into the shop.

“Charlie I don’t care what your excuse is, I need those basilisk eggs and you promised they’d be here two weeks ago—” The woman looks up and startles. “You didn’t try some transfiguration spell and screw it up again did you? Fuck, Charlie. Mom’s going to kill you. You did at least manage to make yourself hot though, so that’s better than last time—”

“No.” Santana interrupts, clearing her throat. “I’m—not Charlie. I’m Charlie’s new assistant.”

The woman cocks her head to the side. “Assistant, eh? Are you from the academy? I thought they weren’t going to let Charlie have an assistant after his last one left. Three strikes rule. I’m Brittany by the way.”

Santana looked at the woman blankly. She had absolutely no idea what any of that really meant. “No. I’m—” She scratched her nose feeling absolutely ridiculous at explaining this to another adult, “I’m new—I got hired yesterday.” She already felt incredibly out of her depth and she didn’t need another person knowing that she was basically a fraud.

The woman smiled warmly and without warning closed the gap between them and wrapped Santana in a warm hug. “Damn. I guess I should have waited for you then, but I guess if Mike was still Charlie’s assistant then he wouldn’t have needed you. Can you run and get the Basilisk eggs for me? They should be labelled under Brittany, but you may find it under ‘Charlie’s marvelous and favorite sister’. Either one.”

Santana glances at the black curtain, Charlie had told her bluntly to stay out from the back. “Um, about that—Charlie wanted me to tell anyone that came in that the orders would get filled the _moment_ that things settled down and got organized.”

“Yes but I needed them two weeks ago, do you know how difficult it is to run a sanctuary when my brother can’t come through on his orders? Just go get them, I promise I won’t tell anyone. I don’t want to get you in trouble but I need to get that exhibit up.”

“Look, Brittany—” Santana began trying to figure out an excuse when her son came to her rescue.

“Wanna see my dragon?”

Brittany blinked and turned to look for the voice finally looking down and noticing Antonio. She frowns a bit before looking at Santana, who looked a bit lost. She plasters a smile on her face and bends down so she can be at eye-level with the kid. “My brother summoned a dragon for you?”

“Yeah! It’s black and it’s got red eyes and it can totally breath fire!” Antonio exclaimed running to go get the dragon that was currently watching Brittany from afar. It hisses at Antonio the moment he approaches causing him to take a step back confusion on his face.

“Tony—get away from that thing. Safe he said, he said it was perfectly safe,” Santana muttered moving to go and grab her son before he became dragon chow.

Brittany raised her hand to stop Santana, “No that’s my fault, he can probably smell Lord Tubbington all over me and it’s getting him a bit territorial. “Tony you’re going to need to extend your hand out and let him come to you. He needs to know he’s not going to be Lord Tubbington’s dinner.”

Antonio nodded and slowly extended his hand waiting for his new pet to accept him, it took a moment the dragon staring at him cautiously before finally taking a few steps forward and allowing Antonio to pet him. “Wow you must know a _lot_ about dragons!”

“Well, I do own a zoo. We’ve got a few of the bigger dragons there if you want to see them. Dragons from all over really, it’s one of the more popular exhibits. You should make Charlie take you sometime, but speaking of exhibits—” Brittany said turning back to Santana. “I _really_ need those eggs.”

Santana winced, “I really shouldn’t leave Antonio alone in the shop.” She tries.

“Who said he’d be alone. Plus, he’s got his dragon that will keep him from too much trouble. And worst case scenario I’ll be here to make sure he doesn’t eat a dung beetle and turn into a frog.”

“Can that happen?” Antonio shrieks excitedly.

Brittany grinned at him and Santana hesitated, she didn’t quite trust Charlie’s organizational skills but it was just a quick trip and he’d never have to know. Besides she was a bit curious as to what he was hiding behind there. She really hoped it wasn’t bodies. She swallows and pulls back the curtain and steps inside.

~O~

Rachel laughed from where she was currently straddling Quinn’s hips enjoying the feeling of running her fingers through Quinn’s hair. “You know, as your assistant I really should be telling you that you really need to get back to work. The honeymoon ended weeks ago.” She leans in pressing her lips against Quinn’s trying not to laugh when she felt Quinn’s fingers slide down to find her core again. She groans against her lips. “ _Quinn_.”

Quinn smirks her eyes dancing with amusement as she tilts her head so she can kiss Rachel’s jaw, “This. Is. Way. More. Fun.” She announces punctuating every word with a kiss as she works her way down to Rachel’s neck. “I took the rest of the day off so I could—” There’s a loud crack followed by what looks like lightning before the door to her penthouse apartment explodes sending pieces of wood flying everywhere. Immediately Quinn reacts wrapping her arm around Rachel and using her body as a shield even as she raises her hand to create a barrier.

“You _really_ need to work on your wards,” Charlie said walking past the doorway, scratching his cheek. He sniffs and looks at the busted up doorway and nudges some of the broken wood with his foot, who used basic wards to protect their homes these days? “If you want I can redo them for you completely custom of course, but it’ll cost you.” He looks up pleased with himself that he could make money even in these circumstances when he catches sight of his sister and former assistant. Immediately he crinkles his nose before covering his eyes with a hand. “What the hell? Why are you two naked?”

Rachel felt the temperature in the room plummet immediately, and she opened her eyes to look at Quinn who had a murderous look on her face. “Quinn,” she began reaching for a shirt that was still in arm’s length.

“You little pissant!” Quinn begins turning to face her brother who blinks and looks at her no longer seemingly embarrassed, he didn’t even get flushed. He had that _idiotic_ look on his face. “Do you have _any_ idea how much that door cost? Not to mention the fact that you just destroyed all my wards? As for why we’re naked? Why would I be naked with my _damn_ wife? She’s my _wife_ you fucking moron!”

Charlie looked unimpressed even as the temperature continued to drop till he could see his breath in front of him. “Well, I never approved of the damn union anyway. If mom hadn’t forced me to attend I never would have come to the wedding. What is _with_ this family and stealing my damn assistants.” He sidesteps the burst of huge chunks of ice that Quinn sent at him, which had been aimed at his head and he could feel his own elemental magic being called forward. There’s a spark of electricity dancing at his fingertips.

“ _Enough_.” Rachel says immediately stepping in front of Quinn before a magical brawl could start. Quinn doesn’t look particularly amused by this and she immediately steps towards her former Magician. “Charlie, I know you’re still upset because you think Quinn poached me but we fell in love and we got married, and I decided to become her assistant instead. I gave you plenty of notice and I left a list of things that you needed to get done.”

Charlie immediately covered his eyes again, he had a whole laundry list of complaints. “I have no idea what you’re talking about and you _knew_ that resigning as my assistant would mean that I couldn’t get another unionized Assistant. Three strike policy! Whoever heard of a magician without an assistant!”

“Oh please you just had to fill out some paperwork, and appeal their decision,” Quinn muttered moving towards her clothes as she began to put them on. “If you weren’t so weird then you’d probably have another assistant by now.”

“I do have an assistant,” Charlie retorts tempted to shock his twin sister despite Rachel being in his way. “In fact that is the reason I’m here. Since Rachel was incredibly self-sufficient and organized I have no idea what she _did_ , now my assistant needs things to do and I don’t know where to start.”

“I was your assistant for two _years_ and you’re telling me that you have no idea what I did every day?” Rachel stomps her foot angrily. “I made you sit through a three-hour presentation before I left! How do you not know what I did for you?”

Charlie scratches behind his ear. “I—uh, wasn’t listening.” He had sat through the PowerPoint, sure, but he had been thinking about the theory behind dimensional travel. He had always wanted to build a portal so that he could save on airfare. But that required far more brainpower, let alone magic and effort than he was willing to put in. Maybe he should start, if he could get it working he would have made his mark on magic.

“Of course you weren’t.” Rachel threw up her hands. She wasn’t sure why she even bothered. Then something he had said earlier struck her. “Wait, if you have an assistant, why doesn’t she know? I mean, yeah she’s not unionized, but did you get her from the academy?” She narrows her eyes at the thought of Charlie snatching up a young assistant before the girl got a chance to really understand what she was getting herself into. At least Rachel had put forward the effort to be unionized, but then she always had to be the best of the best. “Or did you go with someone who was self-taught?”

Charlie frowned and glanced at Quinn who was muttering under her breath. If she was this mad now and when he had walked in on them, she was going to have a coronary once she found out. This was a bad idea, he should have asked Mike. “I should go—”

Quinn frowned and turned to her younger brother, there was guilt on his face and she knew he had done something _stupid_ and probably against the rules. Which meant that she was going to need to clean up after him like usual. “What did you _do_?”

“Nothing.”

“ _Charles_. What did you do?”

“Oh now you call me Charles, I suppose it’s better than Chuck—”

Quinn marched over to him and grabbed him by the collar pulling him down so he was at eye level with her, “I swear to god if you don’t tell me what you did I’m going to freeze your dick off.” It’s not like Charlie had ever used the damn thing before.

“I placed an advertisement in the paper. Someone answered, I hired her on the spot,” Charlie replies. “Really Quinn—”

“Which paper?” Rachel questioned immediately, two years of working with him meant that she knew that she needed to clarify pretty much everything.

Charlie grimaced, “Okay, so maybe I put it in the mundane everyday paper _but_ before you get mad at me, she _saw_ the advertisement, and she saw my help wanted sign. She has some pretty powerful latent abilities if she saw through my illusions.”

They both stared at him in dumbfounded silence. “Please tell me that you aren’t that stupid.” Quinn groans, pinching her nose as she tried to push back the headache at the thought of all the paperwork she was sure was already on her desk.

“Stupid? I thought it was brilliant. She wasn’t unionized but she’s also not a mundane, because I made _sure_ that only someone with powerful abilities could pass the test. She got raised in a mundane family though. I’ll have to look at her family tree to see if—”

“ _You_ made _sure_?” Quinn scoffs. “You mean like that time that you made sure to lock up father’s bestiary? Remember how that went? Oh right, you nearly got yourself killed by a fucking Griffin.” Quinn smacks Charlie’s chest hard where the scar was still very much there.

“Not just any griffin. Lord Tubbington is a _menace_.” Charlie slaps away her hand with a frown. Quinn was never going to let him live that down but it hadn’t been his _fault._ Honestly he had no idea why the damn thing hated him so much. Of course it was an ornery griffin who hated everyone _but_ Brittany. Lord Tubbington just seemed to hate him more than everyone else.

“Could you two _focus_?” Rachel interrupts. Honestly, sometimes they bickered worse than children. “Where is she now?” Rachel asks, the poor woman probably had no idea what she was walking into and would need a crash course and quite a bit of help to become proficient. Her two years spent working with Charlie had opened her eyes to his brilliance, but that brilliance had come at a cost. He was a terrible boss, his social skills were practically non-existent at times and there were many days when he would simply get lost in some magical formula or another. Charlie was a powerful magician, probably more skilled than Quinn though her wife’s magical ability was absolutely terrifying. His major problem was that he was disorganized, and he lacked focus, which was why he _needed_ a strong assistant. Someone that could keep him focused. It was part of the reason she hadn’t stayed as his assistant. She had managed to run his life, but she had never been able to keep him focused on something for more than two minutes.

“Oh, she’s back at the shop with her son. It’s alright I summoned a dragon for the boy to play with and I gave her a book on safety to read. Plus, you know she’s running the shop. It’s been closed ever since you decided to abandon me. Don’t worry I gave her specific instructions to tell everyone to go away until we got organized again. You left the store a mess Rachel, I couldn’t find anything. Plus, I have no idea what you did with my Brownies. I had to get a new family—which reminds me I need to pick up some honey for those Brownies, or maybe I should leave some porridge out. Also I should probably investigate why the bees are dying probably mundane made but I should check to make sure it’s not—” Charlie mused rubbing the stubble on his chin.

“Everything _was_ organized when I left it—wait where did you say you left her?” Rachel paled considerably. They needed to get back to Charlie’s store and fast.

Charlie blinks and focuses on Rachel for a moment. “I’m pretty sure that I said I left her at the store. Where else would she be Rachel? She’s my _assistant_. Running the shop because I don’t want to is one of _her_ responsibilities.”

“Let me get this straight, you left a _mundane_ alone in your shop without any sort of magical supervision?” Quinn pressed suddenly seeing Rachel’s panic, her brother was a menace to society at times, and he got excused, according to their mother it was because Charlie was special. She had bit her tongue on that one. It was far too easy.

“That would be irresponsible. I left a dragon there in case things got really hairy, see I think ahead.” Charlie said smugly, and they thought he was an idiot.

“Quinn,” Rachel pressed, they could yell at Charlie for being irresponsible late right now whoever his new assistant was probably in danger. While Charlie didn’t think his shop was dangerous, and it wasn’t to someone who was trained like she was, for someone who had no idea what they were doing Charlie’s shop was a death trap. Charlie didn’t even know what he was doing _most_ of the time and she had no idea how he had survived this long without her.


	4. Chapter 4

Santana took a deep breath before stepping through the curtain with an air of confidence she didn’t feel. Maybe if she made it seem like she was comfortable she wouldn’t feel so out of place. She’s not sure what she had been expecting, but it almost seems normal. Counters line the outside walls and there seem to be several rows of shelving that house boxes of various shapes and sizes all with different levels of dust that had accumulated on them. She sees a couple of empty cages and feels a rush of relief that she at least doesn’t have to worry about facing some unknown beast.

She only makes it a few steps, however, when suddenly a figure materializes in front of her.

“Santanita, you are the biggest disappointment—”

“Abuela?” Santana takes a step back, gulping heavily. She hasn’t seen her abuela in _years_ , not since before her parents kicked her out. She could remember going to her for help, talking to her pleading with her to no avail. Her family had turned their backs on her the moment that she had made a mistake.

She’s frozen feeling that weight of disappointment from the person who had taken care of her while her parents worked. Her abuela had been unforgiving, ripping into her about a future that she would never have. She swallows, she had been so afraid to face her once she had found out about her pregnancy, to afraid to disappoint her and that same panicked fear claws at her heart. She loved her abuela, but she had always made her feel so small and pathetic. She takes a shaky breath and closes her eyes. Almost immediately she feels a pressure behind her eyes, it’s like a sharp shooting pain and she wonders if she’s dying. She stumbles back and opens her eyes, and she almost wishes she hadn’t.

Upon reopening her eyes, she sees that her abuela hasn’t disappeared but has taken more of an opaque hue, almost as if she’s a ghost. That doesn’t scare her nearly as much as the short, hairy humanoid creature with a large triangular nose and freakishly long arms that dragged on the ground beside it. It’s smiling, at least she thinks it’s smiling with its broken yellow gap-tooth teeth. Her mouth drops for a moment and no words come out even as the _thing_ realizes that something is wrong, the smile slowly falling of its face. It’s only when it takes a step towards her does she find her voice and scream in horror.

“Everything okay?” Santana barely hears Brittany call from the other room. “I know Charlie’s backroom must be horrific. You should have seen his room growing up.”

Santana tries to garble out some assurance but Antonio must see through it completely because he’s fumbling through the curtain just a second later. “What’s wrong Mommy?” He asks desperately, wanting to protect her.

It’s enough to cause that _thing_ to turn and focus on him. Her abuela flickers out of sight and instead it morphs into a giant spider, which immediately hisses and starts toward him. Almost immediately Antonio screams in terror and tries to scramble backwards landing on his bum, a wet spot began to slowly appear on his jeans as he wets himself in terror.

It’s enough to snap Santana out of her daze, and she immediately moves to get her son and run when the dragon that Charlie had conjured launches himself at that the monster. Blowing it’s fire, it’s enough to cause the thing to stop and in that moment she grabs her son, picking him up and running. She only gets as far as the curtain when she trips, she’s not sure on what and pitches forward.

It’s a chain reaction, she braces herself hoping that she doesn’t hurt Antonio when she feels an arm around her waist, catching her.  There’s a frown on Charlie’s face but he’s not even looking at her as he raises his hand and lightning arches from his fingertips hitting the dragon and the monster. There’s a dull thud and Santana looks up at him, he looks eerily calm and mentally present as he immediately shifts his body so he can support both her and Antonio as he pulls them out of his little nook.

“What the _hell_ Brittany? Why didn’t you go and help?” Quinn snapped at her looking at her older sister judgmentally.  They had entered the shop just as Antonio had screamed; it was the first time that she had ever seen her brother move that fast shoving Brittany aside to get to them.

“She’s an assistant! You know how they get when you encroach on their space,” Brittany said defensively a guilty look on her face. “I didn’t think Charlie had anything dangerous back there! And why is this _my_ fault?” Charlie was the one that had left them unattended.

The beat had given Santana a chance to clear her head and her terror quickly turned to fury. “What the _hell_ is wrong with you?”

Charlie nodded and turned to Brittany, “I agree—”

“Not _her_ you idiot. _You_. How the hell could you just leave us here when you’ve got creepy ass humanoid trolls waiting around to scare us to death.”

“It was just a boggart.” Charlie dismisses. “And you would have been _fine_ if you had just listened to me. I _told_ you that I didn’t have time to childproof the store.”

“Antonio wouldn’t have even been in here—”

“I didn’t want to childproof it for _him_.” Charlie retorts.

“Wait, can we go back a minute?” Brittany interjects.

“No.” Charlie and Santana bark in unison.

But Brittany’s not willing to be ignored. “You said you _saw_ it? Like not just the projection, you actually saw the boggart?”

Charlie stops at those words and he studies Santana carefully, it had taken him _years_ to be able to master the art of seeing past the boggart’s power of illusion and he had been raised in a magical household. Santana had been here about three hours and she had seen through the magic in seconds. “I told you that she had latent magical ability.” Charlie mutters to Quinn.

“Having latent magical ability and being able to do something with it are two totally different things. You put her in danger, and she doesn’t belong here. If you needed any more proof, well here it is.” Quinn tilts her head to Santana. “I apologize for my moronic brother.”

Santana shook her head; she didn’t care about some stupid troll-thing. “Antonio could have been hurt, you put my son in danger.”

“I told you the dragon would protect him, I gave your son a guardian even if you don’t approve,” Charlie retorts.

“He wouldn’t need protecting if—”

Charlie shakes his head, losing interest in this argument. Everyone was fine and aside from Antonio who was still clinging to his mother. He could smell the urine from here and he raised a brow. He crouched down a little to meet Tony’s eye level. “What did _you_ see?”

“It was a big spider.” Antonio mutters shudders at the memory. He _hates_ spiders and now he feels like some dumb baby. He expects that Charlie will make fun of him for being scared of spiders, but he’s surprised when the taller man just frowns sympathetically.

“I hate spiders too.” Charlie grimaces. “Creepy devils with too many arms. They’re _ugly_ and have this weird thing with their mouths.” He frowns sympathetically and snaps his fingers, instantly cleaning and drying Antonio’s underclothes and pants. “There we go. Can’t have you walking around when you spilled water all over yourself. That must be uncomfortable.”

Antonio’s embarrassment fades. Even though he is weird, Charlie’s not as bad as some of the other adults he’s met. “Um—can you get me my dragon please?” He whispers to Charlie looking back at the room.

“Of course,” Charlie says heading to the back and looking at the mess that had been made. He glances around before scooping up the dragon and stopping to put the boggart in a cage, before locking it. He returns, “Sorry I knocked it out, it’s very hard to do precision attacks when you’re on the run.”  

“This is ridiculous. I quit. No job is worth this. Not even if you’re paying me two grand a week. The gangs are probably safer. At least I know what I’m getting into.”

“Two grand?” Rachel snaps up. She’d been too consumed with the state of the shop. She’s not sure how Charlie managed to get this in such a mess in two short months. But two grand? She made four times that and while she had been a fabulous assistant she had been grossly under compensated. “Charles Fabray! You explain yourself this instant!”

Charlie blinks wondering why people resorted to Charles when they were upset with him. “She’s not from the union—” Not to mention she wasn’t trained which meant he’d have to do it all himself. It wasn’t as if he was paying her _badly_.

“She’s standing right here and she’s _done_.” Santana snaps as she puts Antonio down but ushers him towards her purse. She roots in it for a moment before grabbing the signing bonus and holding it out for Charlie. “Take it.”

Charlie frowned staring at the extended piece of paper before looking away and walking towards one of the tables that had gotten upended and picks it up and sets it back down upright. “I don’t think the brownies are going to be pleased. I should probably put out some honey before I forget.”

Rachel groans but looks expectantly at her new wife and Quinn pretends not to catch the clear intent. After a minute, she caves. She really should be used to cleaning up after Charlie by now. Craning her neck she puts on her best politician’s smile. “Look, Santana. Keep the money, consider it a severance package.”

Santana frowns but stuffs the check into her pocket. “Fine. Whatever. What about the dragon—”

“Mom!” Antonio shouts. “You can’t give him away, he’s _mine_.”

“I’m not keeping a _dragon_.” Santana snaps. “Our apartment doesn’t allow pets.”

“Perception ward.” Charlie mutters from the far corner where he seems to be engrossed in cleaning up a couple of boxes that had spilled. After scratching his brow for a minute, he ends up conjuring a blanket and draping it over the mess before turning back to the others who are all glaring at him with various levels of skepticism and disbelief. “What?”

“Would you care to _elaborate_ on what you mean? Or are you just going to throw out words to make yourself seem smarter?” Quinn sneers at her brother. She’s never been good at protective wards and she’s a little annoyed that she has to even wait for him to explain—not that she’d ever admit that aloud.

Charlie makes a face, why was everyone else so slow? Well he understood that Quinn was slow but Brittany should have followed that thread of thought immediately. “Perception wards, it’s like the one that I had on the shop front and in my classified ad.” Charlie comments. “They won’t _notice_ a dragon and if they do it’ll look like a lizard. Problem solved.”

“No, problem not solved my apartment doesn’t allow us to own a pet.” Santana reminds him.

 _“_ I thought you said we’re moving!” Antonio reminds her clinging onto his new pet.

Santana frowns, she shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up. That was classic bad parenting 101.  “I’m sorry mijo—we aren’t going to be moving after all.” She winces when tears well up in his eyes. She glances around for a tissue or something, but notices the looks she’s getting and quickly straightens up and narrows her eyes. She was poor, even though she busted her ass all the time, she had nothing to be ashamed about. She’s about to say something when Charlie clears his throat.

“You can still live in the apartment upstairs; you’ll have to pay rent though but we can work something out.” Charlie speaks up absentmindedly as he bends down to pick up some books. “If you’re looking for a job, there’s a help wanted sign in the bakery down the street.”

“I’m not sure I’m in the mood to jump from one job where magical creatures try to kill me, to making magical pot brownies or whatever.”

“Why would you bake Brownies?” Charlie’s brow furrowed.

“She means the dessert, you _moron_.” Quinn snaps. Turning to Santana she smiles. “It’s a normal bakery, we eat normal food. Charlie’s the only magician in this area. All the other stores around here are just that. Stores.”

“And boring.” Charlie muttered. When his sisters look at him again he forces a smile to his face. “But delicious.”

Santana shifts uncomfortably when everyone, including a dragon, watches her for any hint as to what she is going to do. “I don’t know, I’m not sure I’ll get the job and then what? I can’t live above all of this. What if something attacks me again? Or Antonio gets hurt?”

“Charlie doesn’t have any creatures upstairs, right Charlie?”

“Uh—” Charlie blinks.

“ _Charles_.”

“What? You moved out and did something to my Brownies. I had to get some new ones!” Charlie insists.

“What’s a Brownie?” Antonio asks.

“A small fairy like creature, that cleans up for you. They _like_ doing it,” Brittany responds. “They don’t like being seen, which is why they come out at night. They’re relatively benign. I mean the young ones like to move stuff around but still, harmless. We all have them.”

“What else?” Rachel demands looking at Charlie suspiciously. When he doesn’t answer, she turns to Santana. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that he keeps his _work_ in the shop, and I’ll make sure he strengthens all the wards. Nothing will happen to your son.”

“You can't promise that _nothing_ will happen to him—”

“Charlie.” Rachel, Quinn and Brittany scold in unison.

He holds up his palms defensively, “Fine, I won’t bring any more creatures to my room or the store.”

“And anything toxic,” Rachel presses.

“Right, that too.” Charlie grumbles, he was making a lot of concessions for Santana considering that she was the one who had quit.

“I’ll supervise the cleanup,” Rachel informs her, “I know where he hides all of his things. By the way I’m Rachel, his last assistant.”

Santana crinkled her nose a bit, “He said you were poached.”

“She was!”

“He’s upset that I married his sister,” Rachel said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “He’s been a big baby about the whole thing.”

Charlie grumbles but _refuses_ to pout. Quinn took everything and he had just gotten used to Rachel being in his space all the time and moving his things and then Quinn swooped in and stole her too. “I’m not being a baby; I just don’t like it.” Brittany had stolen Mike right when his apprenticeship had ended. Artie had been an abysmal failure. Rachel got on his nerves but she was incredibly good at her job. Quinn had done it on purpose and he was never going to forgive her. She had a boring job where she didn’t have to do that much magic to begin with, she didn’t _need_ an assistant.

“Tough,” Quinn retorts before flicking her eyes at Santana. They were going to have to watch her carefully. Charlie had been irresponsible by telling her, but if she kept quiet about their existence she wouldn’t have to get someone to wipe her mind. Still, she would need to keep tabs on the situation. A woman with no training who could see through boggart magic—she’d need to do some investigating.

“I’m going upstairs,” he mutters mostly to himself as his sisters ignore him. He shoots one glance at Santana for a moment studying her. If it had been anybody else, he would start looking for another assistant immediately, but he had a feeling that Santana would be back.


	5. Volume 03: Issue 04

Santana fights a grin as she leads Antonio up the stairs to their new apartment a week and a half later. He’s still chattering amiably about his new class and she can’t help but feel a burst of pride that she’s managed to get her son to a school where he can really succeed. He’s got his new ipad tucked firmly under his arm and has been talking for the last ten minutes about the class pet that is _nowhere_ as cool as his dragon.

“It can’t even breathe fire.” Antonio reminds her.

“It’s a gerbil. I hope it can’t breathe fire.” Santana snorts.

“The book says that I can train Spot to shoot fireballs.” Antonio cocks his head to the side. “How long do you think it would take me?”

Santana tries not to roll her eyes at the mention of that damn book. She’s had to check Tony’s backpack every single day to make sure he’s not trying to take the dragon or the book to school with him. Then she’s had to _re_ check it to make sure he didn’t smuggle it in once her back was turned. He could be a manipulative sneaky little shit when he wanted to be, and she had absolutely no idea where he learned that from. “Hopefuly never,” she mutters under her breath glad that Antonio isn’t paying that much attention to her. The last thing she needed was her son to become some sort of pyromaniac.  

Santana sighs, wishing that the apartment had an elevator as they make there way up the stairs to the second floor as she fumbles with her keys. The job at the bakery was killing her, yeah the pay was better than the diner, but the work was incredibly difficult. There was a lot of heavy lifting and working in boiling hot kitchens, it didn’t matter that she got a bag of cookies to take home at the end of the day. She had never worked this hard in her entire life.

Her hours were absolutely terrible, she had to be up every day two am, so she could unload the trucks and start baking the goods for the day, not to mention any orders that they had received. Finding a babysitter for the mornings had been impossible, but she was always there when he woke up, and Charlie lived right across the hall, plus he had the damn dragon. The only good thing about her job was that she had afternoons to spend with him.  She shakes her head watching Antonio race up the stairs wondering how he had so much energy when she notice dark red droplets on the stairs. “ _Tony_ ,” she snapped at him in a warning tone. It’s the little shot of adrenaline that she needs to quickly hop up a few more steps so she can step in front of him.

Antonio turns and frowns at his mother, “ _Come on mom_ , I have to feed her! Or—or—” he trails off when he notices the bloody handprint on the wall, and he points to it. “Mom?”

Santana looks up and frowns, she had known that this was a bad idea. But the school had been so good and Rachel had sworn that Charlie’s apartment was clean of any critters. She hadn’t really _seen_ Charlie lately, the shop was closed, and as far as she knew there hadn’t been any strange noises coming from his apartment. She had seen him, but he mostly went about his business quietly, whatever that was. He did take the time to talk to Antonio for a few minutes whenever they crossed paths but this—she was going to need to do something about this, because she shuddered to think what monster made that damn handprint. “ _Charlie_!” She storms up the stairs, carefully. She has no idea what’s up there and she needed to make sure that Antonio was safe. She freezes when she gets to the top of the stairs and sees Charlie attempting to open his door, his left hand hanging limply beside him, blood dripping from the limb.

“Note to self: leave out an extra two containers of honey this week or the Brownies might decide to vacate the premises.” Charlie mutters to himself, glancing down at the blood that’s starting to pool at his feet. He hadn’t noticed Santana or Antonio staring at him, he hadn’t even heard Santana yelling at him. All he knows is that he hates blood, it always leaves that sort of coppery smell even several weeks later.

Santana moves quickly to Charlie’s side, he was a powerful magician and she needed to know what had done that to him. If it was in the building. “What the hell happened to you?”

Charlie finally notices Santana when she touches his back and his head snaps to her. There’s a moment when he doesn’t quite recognize her, probably the work of the blood loss, but he finally smiles. “Nothing. It’s a flesh wound.”

He had lost a lot of blood and she immediately goes for his pockets so she can find his keys, she was going to need to call someone. A hospital, she needed to get in touch with a hospital but first she needed to know if she “Yes. Yes it is a flesh wound. A deep one.” Santana winces when she slowly pushes his wet blood stained clothes up. It looks like a claw mark. “Charlie. _Focus_. Are Antonio and I safe? Where did you get this?”

“Hmm? Yes! Yes you’re perfectly fine, I got this at the zoo. Lord Tubbington really hates me. Brittany didn’t leave me alone about the basilisk eggs, so I did a delivery and her stupid griffin wanted to gouge my eyes out. I think I got off light, I’m not quite sure the pirate look is in this year—excuse me I just need to sleep for a bit and I’ll be good as new.”

The words don’t quite make sense to her, how could they. She’s not quite sure what Lord Tubbington is. Or how big it is. She had thought dragons were these massive dinosaur-shaped things but her son had one that was no bigger than a cat. But still, the idea of Charlie sleeping it off with that much blood loss still seemed like a terrible idea. “Are you sure? Because it looks like you’ve lost your weight in blood.”

“I’m fine—” Charlie tries to assure even as he stumbles over his own foot.

“Antonio get my phone and call 911—”

Antonio moved into action immediately reaching to grab his mother’s phone in her purse. “Okay—is Mr. Charlie going to be okay mom?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Don’t call a hospital, call Rachel. Tell her Lord Tubbington is still trying to kill me and then tell her to call my mother,” Charlie muses.  It’s a burst of focused energy, but it’s a bit too much and he slumps forward.

Santana moves to catch him, but he’s taller than her and surprisingly built under those baggy clothes he wears. She grimaces and helps him lay out on the ground. She moves immediately taking her phone from Antonio who looks concerned. “Go get me some pillows Antonio, he’ a magician he’s probably got some magical potion that only Rachel knows about. He’ll be fine.” Antonio nods and quickly takes his mom's keys before running to open the door and she immediately returns her focus on Charlie’s arm. She frowns for a moment as she dials Rachel’s number.

Rachel picks up on the first ring. “Santana, are you okay? Did Charlie do something?”

“No.” Santana assures right away, then frowns. “Well, yes, but not to me. He’s bleeding—”

“What did he do?”

“He said something about a Lord something or rather and that I should call you to call his mom, look I think he’s out for the count and I figure you had some sort of—I don’t know potion or something to make him feel better. He said no hospitals.”

“ _His mom is in Paris_.”

“Well can’t she—fuck if I know—fly?”

 _“Don’t be ridiculous,”_ Rachel sighs, _“I’m just going to have to get one of the other healers to make a house call.”_ It would be expensive, at least the good ones were  and Charlie was _clearly_ a bit of a cheapass. Which was probably why he was trying to get in touch with his mother. She healed him for free, but it generally meant a huge lecture about his _life_ choices.

“How long would that take?”

“ _Ten to twenty minutes._ ”

“Look, when I said he was bleeding, I didn’t mean it was some little cut that would be fixed with a bandaid. I don’t know if he’s _got_ twenty minutes.”

Rachel grimaced for a moment, her mind racing, if it really was that bad—this was why Charlie needed an assistant. “ _Okay, you’re going to need to slow the blood—_ ”

“I don’t _know_ magic.” Santana reminds her looking up as Antonio comes back, attempting to balance the pillows.

“ _Yes_ , _I know. I was going to suggest wrapping something around his biceps, tightly to slow the bleeding, it’s a makeshift tourniquet. I’m over an hour away, there are simple spells that I could use, but I need to be there to use them.”_

Santana blinks, that actually sounds like something that is relatively useful, but she keeps quiet and instead reaches for Charlie’s shirt and unbuttons it, rolling her eyes at the fact that he hadn’t managed to button his shirt properly. She’s about to do what Rachel asks when she notices the dragon sniffing Charlie’s hand. It was a fire breathing dragon, “Rachel what about using the dragonfire to you know—I don’t know seal the wound like they do in the movies?”

“ _Cauterizing the wound would be a good idea, and I’d suggest that but dragonfire is not exactly something that you want to use to do that, and as far as I can tell that’s a baby dragon it doesn’t have the heat to do that and even if it did it would complicate the healing process.”_

Santana winced, she felt ridiculous for even suggesting it, but she was glad she did. Everything seemed so complicated. She lifts Charlie’s arm and quickly tied the tourniquet above the wound. It doesn’t seem to do much but she’s done it. “Okay, done. Do I have to worry about poison or him sprouting wings or something?”

“ _Griffins aren’t poisonous and they certainly don’t have the magic to create therianthropes, not really, I mean you might have to worry about infection. I doubt Brittany has cleaned it’s claws in a while. I mean given how morbidly obese Lord Tubbington is,I’m surprised it can even get in the air, let alone catch Charlie unaware.”_

There’s a clanging knock that comes from the stairwell and it stops Santana from questioning any further. “Tony, go see what that is and let them in.”

Rachel apparently overheard the clang and sighed in relief. _“Oh good, the healers are there.”_

Santana rubs her eye tiredly. She’s _exhausted_ and it doesn’t help that every minute of the day she seems to be realizing that she’s even more confused than before. It didn’t help that she was _seeing_ things at work, things that no one else saw. Imps, or little green men that stole some of the food and ingredients, never enough to be noticed but still, it was creepy as hell. She was seeing more of that everywhere she went and she knew that she was slowly losing her mind.

“Mom! It’s the healer,” Antonio called out as he ran up the stairs pulling a man along with him. “You have to save Mr. Charlie,” he informs the man bluntly not caring if he’s being rude. He was even more scared than when he had gotten attacked by the giant spider.

“Are you his assistant?” The man questioned raising a brow at the site in front of him.

“No, but I have his former assistant on the phone with me right now, I’m sure she can give you the details better than I can,” Santana said as she extended the phone for him. He took it and immediately brushed her aside like she was beneath him. “What happened?” He asked into the phone as he pulled out a pair of scissors so he could get a better look at the wound. He listens for a moment and winces, “Griffin attack? That’s it?” He shakes his head and begins to work immediately the wound on Charlie’s arm starting to knit itself back together.

~O~

It’s been four days since she happened upon her former boss and neighbor bleeding out in front of his apartment. The blood was mostly cleaned up, save for a couple of stains that grew less and less prominent every day. Other than clattering and clanging that she sometimes hears coming from Charlie’s apartment, she’d never even know he had a brush with death.

But her curiosity is getting the better of her and just as she and Tony are coming back from a grocery trip, she gets the chance to check in on him. The door to his place is left wide open and she can’t stop herself from taking a peeking glance in order to make sure that he is alright. She had expected something similar to the shop, towers and shelves made of old ratty newspapers and a healthy layer of dust to blanket the entire living space. Instead she’s shocked to find out that his apartment is actually _spotless_ and neat.  She stares at it not quite noticing that Antonio immediately walks inside like he owns the place. “ _Tony_ —” Who knows what horrors are actually inside.

“Hey Mr. Charlie!” Antonio says loudly. “Are you writing with a _feather_? That is _so_ cool.”

Antonio’s voice is enough to distract Charlie from what he was working on and he turns to look at the smiling boy. “Oh, the hairless dwarf is back—how did you get past my wards?”

“You left your door open,” Santana shook her head, he kept mentioning wards but she had yet to see anything.

Charlie turned to her for a moment and then put the quill in his hand down, “Thank-you,” he said after a moment. “I think I forgot to say it earlier, thank you for helping me.”

Santana studied him for a moment, “I didn’t do anything, Rachel is the one that talked me through everything. I didn’t know what to do. I mean I had the stupid idea to use dragonfire to cauterize the wound.” It seems to be news to Charlie who raises a brow at that. “Rachel told me not too.”

“She would, and she was right too. Dragonfire has magical properties, which is why dwarves love the stuff. Helps make their armor and weapons. Nothing is stronger than a dwarven axe,” Charlie mumbles and picks up the quill again turning back to his work.

“Can I meet a dwarf?” Antonio asked as he pulled out the chair and sat at Charlie’s dining table. “Are they nice?”

“Yes, the dwarves are _lovely_ people, especially when they’re drinking and fighting. You’d fit right in with your height, shame about the lack of chest hair though or beard. I wouldn’t drink their beer though. Tastes like dirt. Actually, _most_ of their food tastes like dirt, they love the stuff though.”

“You don’t have a beard,” Antonio pointed out, kicking his feet as he looked at what Charlie was working on.

“I’m not a dwarf,” Charlie reminded him. “I’m a magician, why does everyone forget this? Dwarves can’t do magic.”

Antonio nods like this makes sense and peers at the sheet, there were a bunch of squiggly lines and odd shapes all over the large paper. “What are you doing?”

Santana watched Antonio carefully, he had never really taken to anyone like this before, but he treated Charlie like he was an old friend. “Antonio we should probably let Charlie work—”

“Calculations,” Charlie interrupts.

“Like math?” Antonio crinkles his nose. “But you’re _magic_ why do you have to do _math_.”

Charlie stops for a moment and puts the quill back down. He frowns, studying Antonio for a moment. “Magic isn’t just waving my hands around and hoping that things work out.”

“It isn’t?” Santana asks causing him to turn to her. “You could have fooled me,” she adds for good measure.

“It’s a craft, and while I’ve mastered many basic spells and I can do things without thinking about them, the vast majority of Magician’s can’t.” Charlie held up his hand watching as arcs of electricity appeared for a second. “Not everyone can do that. That’s _simple_ , but a spell this complicated?” Charlie gestures to his table, where there are two huge books laying there. “Well, I need to do the correct calculations, it needs to be precise and accurate because if it’s not _perfect_ then I could do something unintended. So calculations are needed so I don’t blow or summon something that I didn’t want to.”

“Oh,” Antonio said in a disappointed manner, that seemed boring. He huffs and kicks his feet.

“So it’s not all summoning dragons?” Santana asked putting the bags of groceries down at the doorstep and entering his apartment.

“No, that’s only a small part of what I do. The summoning, the retrieving magical objects, the antiquities. The getting attacked by homicidal griffins—” Charlie trails off and looks back at Santana and smiles. “Tiny part of my business, the _fun_ part of my business, the rest is double checking work, and creating and making new spells.”

Antonio huffs, this was _boring_. “I wanted to take you in for show and tell so you could do _magic_ , because my mom said that I couldn’t take Spot.”

“Spot?” Charlie crinkles his nose and looks at Santana.

“He decided to name his dragon that, despite the fact that it has no spots that I’m aware of,” Santana explains, there’s a large part of her that wants to snoop around Charlie’s apartment but she doesn’t.

“Oh—what’s this show and tell business?”

“Antonio, you can’t take Charlie in for show and tell, I’m sure he’s busy and—”

“Well, no I’m not. My last assistant quit after a day and I decided to close the shop until I get another assistant. So this show and tell business?”

“It’s every Friday.” Tony shrugs. “And we’re supposed to bring someone or something that people want to see. I want to show my class _magic_.”

“Magic, huh?” Charlie scratches his chin thoughtfully.

“No.” Santana says immediately. Charlie plus innocent young children unsupervised? That was a recipe for disaster.

“But _mom_! I want to have the best show and tell _ever_.”

“I do too!” Charlie agrees. He’s not sure what show and tell is but he _definitely_ is ready for the challenge. “Don’t worry, just give me a time and I’ll be there—but uh maybe stick a note on my door so I don’t forget.”

“Charlie—”

“It’ll be _fine_ Santana. I know what I’m doing,” Charlie vows with a wave of his hand before looking at the paper in front of him. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have to finish this for a client and I’m already a month behind schedule.”

Santana pinches the bridge of her nose. She can’t say no to Antonio’s infectious glee which meant she was going to need to show up to make sure Charlie didn’t do something stupid. The last thing she needed was to have Tony’s teachers turned into an alligator or accidentally explode something. She wasn’t about to set him loose on a kindergarten class unsupervised. “No dragons.”

“No dragons,” Charlie repeats with a wave of his hand. She really seemed stuck on this dragon thing.

“Come on Antonio, we’ve got to put all these groceries away. The ice cream is probably melting.” It’s enough to get her son to hop off the chair and immediately head to the bags to help her move them inside her apartment. She glances at Charlie once more, but he seems to be absorbed in his work, and is currently muttering to himself. She _hoped_ that she could take the time off to supervise him.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Antonio shifted nervously as everyone stared at him, and he resisted the urge to hide behind Charlie’s long legs. “Um—this is my show and tell. Mr. Charlie lives across the hall from us and he’s a magician! He does really cool magic.” Antonio looks at Charlie he really doesn’t look like much of a magician. “Like summoning dragons.”

Charlie glanced down at Antonio, “Your mom said no dragons,” he reminded him keeping his voice low. Not that he would anyway, there were far too many little people and technically he wasn’t supposed to be doing this to begin with. They were _technically_ a secret society.

“Fine, but I still think you should.” Antonio whispers back and looks at Charlie expecting him to do something. When he doesn’t move he crinkles his nose. “You said you’d do magic so do magic,” Antonio whispered back before heading to his desk so he could watch the show. Besides his mom wasn’t even there, so Mr. Charlie could do whatever he wanted.

Charlie hummed absentmindedly and looked at the classroom filled with little people. There was one teacher at the back who was smiling encouragingly. The little people looked bored. He knew the feeling very well. “So.” He begins. “Hello, classroom filled with little people. Apparently calling you hairless dwarves is politically incorrect.”  He gets an unimpressed look from the class and he sighs and pulls out a fancy deck of cards.

“Magic isn’t _real_.”

“Of _course,_ it is,” Charlie insists shuffling the cards absentmindedly turning to the kid who said it, the cards were flying quickly between his fingers and he realized that he suddenly had the attention of the vast majority of the class. “There’s magic all around you, and it’s _amazing_ and glorious and so complex.”

“But where’s your wand?”

“Are you going to pull a bunny out of a hat?”

“I haven’t used a wand since I was ten, and no. Rabbits creep me out,” Charlie responds holding the deck of cards out, before spreading them out so that they could see that the face of the cards were all different. “So.” He says a smirk on his face. “Who wants to see some magic?”

“Stop!” Santana breathed heavily as she stormed into the classroom. She had practically sprinted from the parking lot and only caught the tail end of Charlie’s question. Today had been the day from hell and she definitely didn’t want Charlie terrorizing innocent children with mythical beasts.

Everyone in the room turns to her and Antonio groans before waving at her. “Hi mom! Charlie was going to show us some magic—so shush!”

“What he said,” Charlie agrees with Antonio glancing at Santana for a moment wondering why she was even here. He shakes his head before turning his attention back to the cards, this required some concentration to make it work. None of this was particularly intensive magic, a few illusion spells a small tracking spell and then one very minor transformation spell. It was his weakest area of magic, but so long as he was just working with cards then he was sure he could pull it off.

Santana winces and shifts ready to use her body as a shield in case anything went wrong but instead she’s surprised to see Charlie shuffle the cards once more before spreading them on a child’s desk. “Please don’t summon something insane,” she mumbles under her breath.

“Pick a card. Any card of course and show it to the rest of the class,” Charlie says to the little—he squints a bit so he can get a better look at the little person—probably a girl. He never could tell them apart when they were that tiny. He turns his back. “Don’t show me of course, that would ruin the entire trick and no one shout it out either. How am I supposed to impress you if I know the answer?”

The kids all giggle, captivated as they look at the chosen card. Santana glances at it, three of diamonds. She tilts her head to Charlie, watching him, he’s concentrating and his fingers are moving in a jerky pattern and he’s mouthing some words. She swallows, hoping that nothing went wrong. As far as she had seen, and from what Rachel promised her, Charlie was a brilliant magician so long as he wasn’t distracted. She rarely saw him focused to begin with but this time he seemed to be powering through any distractions.

“Okay, Mr. Charlie!” Antonio called out pleased that everyone seemed excited. This had been his best idea _ever_.

“Okay, put the card in the deck,” Charlie instructs his hands returning to his sides and he waits for a moment before turning around. He doesn’t touch the cards on the child’s desk, instead he points to a random kid. “You, dwarf with the freckles, I want you to take the deck, _carefully_ , and pass out the cards. Everyone has one, and then I want you to give the rest of the cards to the teacher. Don’t peek though.” He warns the class.

A quiet hush falls over the class as each of them watches Charlie for any hint of a mistake. Some of the kids seem captivated on his every movement, while others seem to be fairly skeptical, but Charlie takes it all in stride. Charlie waves his fingers theatrically. “Alright, now we’re all going to say the magic word: Pancakes.” He declares proudly. He’s researched enough charlatan magicians to know that they _always_ have a magic word.

“What type of a magic word is pancakes?” A bigger kid from the back of the class scoffs.

“Have you ever _had_ pancakes?” Charlie retorts, his eyes narrowing. It was better than some stupid made up word like Kablammo—actually, that one was pretty good. He would have to remember that for next time. He shakes off the criticism and squares his shoulders. “The magic word _today_ is Pancakes. So everyone wave your hand over your card and say it with me on the count of three.”

Santana smirks when Charlie begins to count dramatically. He’s weirdly terrific with a group of six year olds and it’s almost endearing. _Almost_. Then he glances over at her and smirks and she remembers the dragon waiting back at home. She frowns at him and gives him a suspicious look.

“ _Pancakes_.”

“Alright flip the cards over! Is _that_ your card?” Charlie asks even though he already knows the answer. Immediately they all began to chatter, surprise written on their faces. They were _little_ people, they were easily amused.

“How did you do that?”

Charlie eyes flick to the boy at the back who was looking at him suspiciously. “Magic, obviously.”

“Magic isn’t real!” He insists crossing his arms over his chest. “My daddy says that it’s just an allusion!”

“Illusion, well I suppose it is illusion magic,” Charlie mumbles squinting at the kid, he really needs to find his glasses. “Well, how about you pass the cards back up to the front and I’ll do one more trick, real magic.”

“ _Charlie_ ,” Santana presses immediately but she can already see that he is simply going to ignore her. She pinches the bridge of her nose, maybe she should have called Rachel to see how to stop him.

“It’s a shame that you don’t believe in magic. There are things that you’ll never be able to understand, you need to have an imagination, because magic—” Charlie said as the cards began to float in the air around him. By now he had everyone’s attention and he flicked his wrists sending the cards flying. They were to busy watching the cards in the air to notice him mouthing the words, and twisting his fingers but the cards exploded into flowers before slowly raining down over the classroom. “Kablammo.” Charlie finishes.

“No way!”

“How did you do that?”

“That’s so _cool_.”

Charlie beams at the praise. Maybe little people weren’t so bad after all. He notices the boy at the back glaring at him and shudders. That one definitely has to be a very mean hairless dwarf. He turns to Santana for a moment watching her watch the flowers rain down, there was something in her eye that made him smile. She was most definitely going to be his assistant again.

~O~

Antonio is walking ahead of them, just far enough away that he feels like he’s doing it all by himself but close enough that Santana could catch up in an instant if she thought he was actually in danger. He’ll lag back every once in awhile just to make sure his mom isn’t far enough away and Santana can’t help but feel a little ping in her heart that her boy is growing up so fast. After a minute of walking in silence, she sighs. “You did a really good job.”

Charlie doesn’t answer seemingly lost in his own thoughts. She clears her throat and nudges him a little. “You did well.”

This time Charlie looks over with a small smile. “Oh? Well, they weren’t dwarves so it was much easier to impress them, though you really should check out that kid in the back. I swear he had a beard.”

“He didn’t.”

Charlie shrugs. “He acted like a dwarf.”

Santana shakes her head, he was weird, and she wasn’t sure if she truly trusted him when he said he had gotten drunk with a bunch of dwarves. “Thank you. You know for not summoning a dragon or blowing up the school—you were good with them, and because of you Antonio made a lot of new friends.”

“Summoning dragons is a small part of what magic is and there shouldn’t be explosions unless you’re actually aiming to blow stuff up. I’m an excellent magician, despite what anyone else says.” He’s not boasting, he’s just stating a fact. “You would know this if you were my assistant.”

“Yeah, that was for all of ten minutes and it was a clusterfuck.” Santana scoffs.

“It wasn’t a clusterfuck, it was just—disorganized.” Charlie admits. He probably should never have left her alone, but he had gone to make sure she understood what was expected of her. She needed to be trained and the last thing he wanted to do was send her to the academy where she would be poached by someone else.

“Sure.” She rolls her eyes. “If your definition is disorganized is a couple near death experiences and almost being turned into spider food.”

“You entered into it’s territory and like any wild animal it defended its territory,” Charlie explains. “You saw a reflection of your fears, it was trying to get you to runaway. But you saw through it which confused it, hence why it went after Antonio. I _told_ you not to go back there.”

“Well maybe if you had warned me that there was a shapeshifting monster back there I wouldn’t have gone back there,” Santana frowns trying to shake the memory of her abuela from her head. “I don’t think I can handle all that— _weird_. I mean sure it’s all fun and games when you’re entertaining children but I don’t know what the different types of fire are. I have no idea what a manticore is—”

Charlie held up his hand to stop Santana from talking, and fished around in his pockets pulling out a small marble. He taps it and winces as the marble heats up but quickly begins to craft sculpting a manticore and changing the properties of the marble until there was a glass lion-like creature with huge batwings and a scorpion's tail in his hand. He flicks his eyes to Santana for a second before rotating his pinky and flicking his thumb. Santana jumped in surprise as the glass figurine began to move along Charlie’s extended hand. The manticore figurine seemed to spit and hiss and flap its wings. “ _That’s_ a manticore. Just bigger, and far more vicious.” Without hesitating Charlie drops the glass figurine letting it shatter against the ground.

“So how do you kill it? Apparently the only way to heal a victim of manticore venom is to—”

“Kill the manticore from which the venom came from.” Charlie finished for her. He nodded silently to himself, Santana was quick and she really would be the perfect assistant. “When summoning a manticore, which is the _height_ of stupidity, it’s best to anchor it to an object that can easily be destroyed. They’re vicious creatures, mindless killing machines really so if you make a mistake, it will kill you, that’s why no one who is intelligent summons one. Not to mention manticore venom is basically a restricted substance.” Charlie frowns for a moment and shakes his head before looking at Santana. “You would know all of this if you were still my assistant.”

“You must love this, right? Being the smartest guy in the room with all your magical know-how?” Santana teased. He is good at it and even if he is a little bit of an asshole. “What would we ever do without you?”

But Charlie frowns.“I don’t revel in your magical ignorance. Yeah, I get free cookies now when Tony sneaks them over to my apartment but you have a lot of potential and not a lot of training.”

“ _That’s_ where they’ve been going?”

“Well, he needs to pay me for all the dragon treats somehow, and I told him I take my payment in cookies.” Charlie mused.

Santana stared at him, he still hadn’t had the conversation about rent for the apartment, and she wasn’t quite ready to remind him just yet. Money was tight right now. “I thought he was eating them all,” she flicks her eyes to Tony for a moment.  

“That would be a _lot_ of cookies.” Charlie shrugs at this and looks at Antonio or a moment before going back to the mental calculations that he was working on. He had said what he had needed to.

Santana yawns, the early morning hours from the bakery and the adrenaline from the day finally getting to her. “Fuck I’m tired.”

Charlie scowls. “Why? Are you not getting enough sleep?”

Santana laughs. Of _course_ she’s not. “I have a six year old son that doesn’t want to go to bed until nine and an asshole boss that wants me to be at the bakery during ungodly hours of the morning.”

“So come work for me.” Charlie suggests again.

“It’s not that easy.”

“Why can’t it be?”

“Because you grew up with all of this,” Santana gestures vaguely. “I have _no_ idea how to deal with this world of magic and whatever other shit is out there.”

“You’re _scared_.” Charlie corrects bluntly. “It’s the same reason you freaked out today—yes, I did notice that. It’s like learning a second language, you’re _going_ to make mistakes at first but once you finally get it an entire world opens up to you with culture and experiences that you can’t even dream of.”

“I’m not _scared_.” Santana bristles at the thought. “Why do you care so much anyway?”

“I don’t.” He shrugs when she simply glares at him and continues, “Not really. I wouldn’t be angry with you if you made mistakes as my assistant—that’s what assistants are there for. Despite Rachel’s insistence that she knew what she was doing, I had to clean up a few of _her_ messes. But the idea that you are okay just living in ignorance bothers me. You’re _afraid_ and that is why most people are afraid—because they are ignorant and don’t know any better.”

“I have a _son_.” Santana counters. “I think that’s a _damn_ good reason to be afraid of fire breathing dragons and poisonous manticore’s and giant ass spiders.”

“You think you’re the only person in the world to grow up normal while always knowing that they didn’t quite belong? You aren’t special. You have an opportunity that most people in the world never get. You’re _gifted_ and most people that are continue going through the motions and forcing themselves to fit into a world that will never get them. They go unnoticed and they live out their boring short lives. It offends me that you would throw away an opportunity just because you are afraid.”

“It _offends_ you?”

“Yes, it does.  You have potential and you’re throwing it away. There is a whole world out there that you want to ignore and pretend it doesn’t exist. What I don’t understand is that from where I’m standing, the scariest thing is not knowing and not understanding. How can you protect anyone if you don’t know what you’re up against? Had you known that it was a boggart, you wouldn’t have been frightened and you would have immediately known what to do.” Charlie waved the thought away. “If you want to spend your life working at a bakery then do so, the cookies are delicious.”

“I told you, I’m _not_ afraid.” Santana frowns. “Is it so wrong to just want a normal stupid job where I don’t have to worry about being murdered?”

Charlie turned to Santana and raised a brow, “Murdered? You weren’t in any danger, you got scared. Boggarts don’t _kill_ people. With the exception of a few exotic creatures that I bring back for Brittany like the basilisk eggs, the only danger that’s in my shop is the odd papercut or tripping over some broken furniture. You aren’t a Magician, you _aren’t_ going to be taking _any_ of the risk I am. You aren’t in danger so long as you realize your limitations and don’t do anything stupid like Artie did.”

She’s quiet for a moment thinking over what he had just said. She glances at Antonio, he didn’t seem to fear anything when it came to Charlie and magic. He seemed to trust that Charlie knew what he was doing at any given time. Once upon a time _that_ had been her. She _hated_ the job at the bakery and she couldn’t go back to waitressing. She wanted to be there for her son. She turns to Charlie who seemed to have grown bored with the conversation and exhales. “Rachel told me she had been making two hundred dollars an _hour_.” Santana counters.

Charlie snorts at this and looks at Santana, “I am not paying you two hundred dollars an hour. You don’t even have a license. You’re currently living in my building rent free, I babysit for you in the mornings when you have to go to work. Rachel made two hundred an hour because she is fully licensed to be an assistant, and she’s a member of the union. She needs to update her skills every ten years, to keep her licence. You quite frankly are a beginner.”

“But no one else will work with you.” Santana pointed out, she knew she was pushing her luck and quite possibly being greedy.

“The same could be said about you,” Charlie counters. “No other magician in the city is going to hire you. You don’t have a licence. You don’t know the first thing about magic.”

“The difference is that you _need_ an assistant.” Santana’s not backing down from this. “I was the _only_ applicant.”

Charlie frowns and chews on his lip. He’s growing more bored with this conversation by the second and there are a million other things he can find to distract himself with. “Fine. I won’t pay you two hundred, but one-fifty. And you still bake me two dozen cookies every week to pay for dragon treats.”

“One-thirty and no cookies.” Santana barters. She’s so sick of that damn bakery and if she never sees flour again she’ll be too happy.

“One-fifty and _one_ dozen cookies.” He could get Tony to steal more if needed. “Rachel always left a plate out for me.” Charlie said smugly.

Santana frowns, that was the weirdest negotiation she’s ever been a part of. But that’s nearly triple her original salary to begin with. “ _Fine_.”

“I like chocolate chip, shortbread and sugar cookies. I don’t like raisins, or fruit in my cookies,” Charlie informs her. “You can start first thing after you get Antonio ready, Rachel and Mike will be the ones training you.” Charlie adds after a moment. He’s not a teacher and if Santana was going to pass her Assistance exam, she was going to need all the help she could get. As far as he saw it Quinn and Brittany _owed_ him this since they had poached his damn assistants to begin with.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

It had been more than a couple of years since Mike had been inside Pandora’s antiquities. It was weird coming back to his first assistant’s job, it was a store that he had helped build with Charlie. He had put so much time and effort into building the store with Charlie, so seeing it in the state that it was in now hurt. He really wasn’t _that_ surprised, Charlie had never truly cared about the shop. No, the shop had always been too mundane for Charlie Fabray. It was _probably_ a Fabray thing, because Brittany was just like Charlie in a way. Running a zoo was far too mundane for Brittany.

“Hey, Charlie—I’m here to teach your new assistant,” Mike called out. He had discussed it with Rachel and they had agreed that he’d take the morning shift and Rachel would take the afternoon shift. The only way that they’d know for certain if Santana was ready is if she passed the Assistant’s exam. It still wouldn’t prepare her to be Charlie’s assistant, that would require getting to know Charlie and figuring out his quirks, but at the very least she’d be able to hold her own.

The curtain to the back opened and Charlie poked his head out and squinted at Mike. “If it isn’t the traitor.”

Mike sighed and shook his head. Charlie was being dramatic again, “I didn’t betray you Charlie, I just left to go work with Brittany.”

“You chose my sister!” Charlie grumbles shaking his head. Mike had been his very first assistant, they had gone to school together and they had been partnered throughout. So Mike abandoning him to go and be with Brittany, that one had hurt.

“I married your sister. There’s a difference,” Mike responded with a roll of his eyes. He looks at Charlie for a moment and sighs, he was squinting again. “Where are your glasses?”

“Oh. Those got eaten months ago.” Charlie crinkled his nose. “Years ago?” He shrugs and heads towards the back. He hadn’t known how to get them replaced so he hadn’t bothered. “Santana said something about dropping the dwarf off at school, she’ll be back soon enough.”

“But you hate dwarfs?” Mike furrows his brow and wonders aloud. But things with Charlie were rarely so cut and dry. It had been a while, but he’d have to think like Charlie. After a second, he brightens. “Oh. Brittany mentioned she had a child.”

“He’s still a little person.”

“A child.” Mike corrects slowly. He’s not a hundred percent sure that Charlie is aware of the difference.

“Still don’t trust him, even though he’s not as bad as the rest.” Charlie comments heading back to his workspace. “And I don’t _hate_ dwarfs, it’s hardly their fault they were born dwarfs and I’m not a _speciest_ , I just don’t trust them. It’s wired in their DNA to be greedy little bastards, and to have iron livers.”

Okay. Mike nodded to himself. He could work with that. “Alright, so it’s Santana’s first day as a real assistant.” Brittany had written him out a speech to give Charlie about how Charlie should avoid acting—well, like Charlie. But he figured he could forego the cue cards.

“Well, technically it’s her _second_ first day as a real assistant,” Charlie corrects.

“So what are we going to do to make sure she has a first second day?"

“Nothing, I made her sign a contract that says she can’t quit.” Charlie smiled pleased with himself for thinking of such a brilliant move.

Mike rubbed his eyes tiredly. Only Charlie would think that was a good idea. But he wasn’t going to be deterred. “Or you could be supportive so that she doesn’t _want_ to quit.” He notes.

Charlie rolls his eyes. He’d ignore Mike, but Brittany had talked his ear off to remind him that Mike was trying to help. “And how would I do that?”

“Tell her she’s doing a good job?” Mike suggests. “Maybe you can—”

“She’s just doing a job. Just like you and Rachel did. It’s like my dad always says. She has a job and she should do the best job she can. Why should I have to hold her hand and—” Charlie trails off when the door to the shop opens and he tilts his head so that he can look at Santana.

“Sorry I’m late, I think Antonio’s coming down with something—but he seems to be fine enough to go to school today.”

Charlie studies her for a moment before pointing to Mike. “Santana this is Mike, he’s a traitor. Don’t be like him, but listen to his words because he’s actually somewhat competent. He’s going to help you become a proper assistant. If you need me I’ll be in the back working.” With that he heads back behind the curtain, making sure that it’s closed leaving Mike and Santana alone.

Mike groaned before smiling at Santana and extending his hand. “I’m Mike, I was Charlie’s first assistant.”

Santana shook his hand and glanced at the curtained off area, “You’re a traitor?” She presses, she had heard that two out of three of Charlie’s former assistants had been poached and she hadn’t truly understood what that meant.

Mike shakes his head a small amused smile flitting onto his face. “I’m Brittany’s husband, I went to go work with my wife,” Mike explains. “It’s not _that_ unusual. Magicians and assistants get married all the time, it’s probably all that work in close proximity, the danger and well the magic of it all.” Mike shrugs. While the Magician community didn’t really care, the Fabray family—well he still hadn’t managed to stop Russell from glaring at him.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Santana says briskly. She wasn’t going to invite _weird_ into every aspect of her life.

Mike smirks, she sounded so sure of herself. He was sure he had been the same way before he had run into Hurricane Brittany. “You might be right,” Mike muses. “Charlie’s sort of—well he’s sort of blind to those matters. I don’t think he’s even had a girlfriend—or a boyfriend.” Mike pauses scratching his ear. “Honestly no one is quite sure which side of the spectrum Charlie’s on,” Mike admits and then shakes his head. They weren’t here to gossip about Charlie, he could spend the entire week doing that and telling Santana stories. He opens the bag around his shoulder and pulls out a few notebooks and textbooks before placing them on the store counter, he studies them carefully before opening a folder and pulling out a few papers. “They’ll be plenty of time to vent about how weird he is later. We need to turn you into a _proper_ assistant. Rachel and I agreed the fastest way to do that would be to write and _pass_ the assistants exam.”

“There’s an exam?” Santana crinkled her nose, studying for her GED had been difficult enough. Especially since Antonio had been teething at the time. She had never been especially good at standardized tests and adding a magical component almost made this seem impossible.

“Of course, it’s the only way to test that you’re a competent assistant. Every magician is different and because of that an assistant has to have a diverse set of skills,” Mike explains. “For example, Charlie is well—that’s a terrible example. I don’t think there’s anyone quite like Charlie, but I used to work here doing your job. Now I work at a zoo. I spent last night helping a Kelpie give birth,” Mike shakes his head but smiles. “It was messy and tiring but it’s _rewarding_.”

Santana winced, she didn’t even know what a kelpie was, but Mike seemed thrilled with himself and she didn’t want to burst his bubble. “I’m not exactly great at standardized tests.”

Mike smiles. “The assistants exam is anything but _standard_. They customize it both to your abilities and to what they expect you to know. It’s general knowledge, but it’s not like a strict yes or no test.”

Santana arches her brow. “Okay.”

“Because of Charlie’s—well because he’s more of a jack-of-all-trades magician, your general knowledge is going to need to be extensive and we’re going to need to get you used to taking a magical test. If you’ve never seen one before you might freak out.” Mike explains, when Santana gives him a look he sighs. “The test it _changes_ as you write it constantly, to things you’ve never seen before. Languages, pictures, mathematical equations. I hear the magician’s exam is like that except on steroids. I’m sure Charlie can enchant some questions that Rachel will give you for homework tonight so you can get used to it.”

“Of course. Because not even your tests can be normal.” She shakes her head.

Mike laughed, “Yeah, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be fine I promise.” Mike shifts so he’s a bit closer to Santana, “But before we begin with that Rachel suggested that I give you a _brief_ run through of _our_ world and the role of assistants.”

“Probably a good place to start, Charlie hasn’t really given me that history,” Santana admits as she pulls a chair out for Mike so that they could sit down. She opens a Batman notebook that she had stolen from her son and grabs a pen.

Mike nods, that did sound like Charlie but Santana needed a point to start from and having the history would help her at least understand part of their world. “Now Rachel would probably yell at me for saying this, but I never really cared for the folklore of magicians and assistants. It goes back a long time. There’s something that happened around the time of the Salem Witch Trials, but it was a long time ago and history’s not really my best subject. You can find out more from Rachel if you care, but it’s not that important.”

Santana smirks. At least he wasn’t going to bore her to death with history facts. She liked Mike better and better every second. “Okay.”

“But all you _really_ need to know is that magicians and their assistants go hand in hand. There are some magicians who try to go it alone, but everybody knows that a _really_ good magician has an assistant and most assistants stick with their magician forever.”

“So the three strikes policy he told me about? That’s because you and Rachel both married Charlie’s sisters —”

“ _And_ because he lost Artie.”

“Oh.” Santana frowns. She’s heard vague references to the other assistant but never was able to put together firm details. “What happened to him?”

Mike furrowed his brow at her tone before laughing. “Oh. Nothing. He’s fine, Charlie literally just lost him in a vanishing cabinet for a while.”

The answer had come far to quick and there was a look on Mike’s face for her to take that as reality. “Charlie mentioned something about a manticore—”

Mike made a face and sighed, “There was also that incident—look I don’t want to scare you and honestly I don’t really know what happened—”

“What happened, was that I was called in to deal with a manticore crisis. Some lunatic had summoned one for whatever reason, it went bezerk. I had to put it down, Artie was upset that I simply ignored his presence and tried to show me that he was just as intelligent as I was. The manticore broke his back after it poisoned him.” Charlie explains carrying a small jar as he headed towards them. He placed the container in front of Santana, “That’s for your little person, smear it on his chest and if he’s sick he’ll be feeling better by tomorrow.”

Santana took the jar of warm purple goo and tipped it to its side when it slowly slurped against the glass container she frowned. “Thanks?”

“You’re welcome.” Charlie declared with a proud smile. He was aceing this whole ‘be nice to the new assistant’ thing.

Santana stared at it there was no way that she was going to put this on Antonio. She puts it down only to have Mike pick it up and stare at it appreciatively. “Since when did your mom give you her secret recipe?” He glances at Santana. “This stuff is like the best thing in the world, it can practically do _anything_ and everything. I got a pretty bad sprain and Judy slapped this stuff on my ankle, in a few hours I could put pressure on it and by the next day it felt good as new.”

Santana eyed the purple mixture not sure if she truly believed him. “What’s in it?”

“That’s a family secret,” Charlie informs her vaguely.

At Santana’s skeptical look, Mike felt obligated to explain. “That’s a good thing, Charlie’s mom is one of the best healers around.” He turned to Charlie who was watching Santana oddly. “Thanks for this, but go away. We’re trying to work.”

“Fine.” Charlie straightened with a huff. “But she doesn’t even know what a Kelpie is.”

“Which is why you need to _go_.” Mike insists. He and Rachel had agreed that there was no way they would be able to teach Santana everything she needed to know if Charlie was hovering over their every move. “We have work to do.”

“You’re just as bad as my sister. Did anyone ever tell you that?” Charlie sneers but walks toward his backroom.

“Go away.” Mike repeats. He’s not going to get into this argument with Charlie now. They don’t have time to waste. Charlie grumbles and Mike shakes his head in relief when he finally leaves. Once he’s sure that Charlie is out of earshot, he turns back to Santana. “Okay. So Kelpies. I’m guessing you don’t know a lot of magical creatures.”

Santana shook her head.

“Then that’s a great place for us to start. Also the easiest place to start.” Mike adds after a moment. Maybe he could take Santana to the zoo before it opened one day and make sure she truly understood everything. “Let’s start with the dragon, I hear you have one as a pet.” Mike begins grabbing a textbook and flipping it open. This might actually be fun.

~O~

A little over three hours later, Santana felt like her brain had turned to mush. Kelpies, manticores, dragons, fucking unicorns—it was all too much. Apparently Mike noticed the way her eyes had glazed over and smiled sympathetically. “Should we take a break for lunch?”

Santana nods, it had been a _lot_ of information. Natural habitats, nutrition—mating habits, even though she didn’t want to admit it, the whole thing had been _fascinating_. She packs her notebook up and begins to arrange the area, “I think we should, isn’t Rachel supposed to be here around one? That means we’ve got two hours before I have to pick up Antonio.”

Mike nods,  “You’ll probably get far more done with Rachel then with me, she is super organized, probably has a proper lesson plan and everything. Perhaps tomorrow or the weekend you and your son can come to our zoo. It’ll be the perfect learning environment, and you can see most of these creatures up close.”

She’s a bit curious despite herself. Yes, she’s got a six year old and _knows_ she should be avoiding this crazy world like the plague but it was fascinating and if Antonio got to learn more about this world, then maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. She’s almost about to say yes when Charlie pokes his head in the room to interrupt— “Come on Santana, we’re going for lunch.”

She glances between Mike and Charlie before shrugging. Lunch with the new boss might be a good way to get off on the right foot. “Sure Charlie.”

Charlie glares at Mike, “Just to be clear, Mike you are not invited.” He had to be careful that Rachel and Mike didn’t try to poach Santana like they had been. Or filled Santana’s head with stories about how great being unionized was.

Mike held up his hands defensively. “You didn’t _actually_ have to say that.” He notes.

Charlie studies him for a moment before turning back to Santana. “There’s an excellent diner just down the street, we can walk. Good for the digestion, and away from prying ears.”

“I am not spying on you for Brittany,” Mike says flatly. “If my wife wants to find out what you’re doing she’ll come harass you herself. Speaking of that, you know it’s the end of the month which means your usual get together is coming up, can you _please_ show up this time?”

Santana eyed both men for a moment before walking up to Charlie and pushing him towards the door, “You’re paying for lunch right?”

It’s enough to split Charlie’s focus and he scowls at her. “You should be treating me to lunch with what I pay you,” he grumbles.

“So that’s a yes?”

Mike smirks as Santana waits expectantly for Charlie to open the door. Maybe he and Rachel had underestimated Santana, she was going to do just find managing Charlie. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that she had practice managing a six year old. He grinned at the similarities and made a note to tell Brittany that.

Santana waved at him as they left the store, and turns her attention back to Charlie who seemed to be pouting. “You shouldn’t worry, I’m not going to abandon you. Certainly not to work in a zoo.”

“I should hope not, it’s smelly work,” Charlie shakes his head at this. “Just stay away from my sister’s they’re _tricky_. They like to poach my assistants.”

“It seems like that they simply offer perks that you don’t,” Santana comments off-handedly.

Charlie crinkles his nose, “Like what?”

Santana looks at him pointedly. When he doesn’t even blink, she sighs. “Well they did get married.”

Charlie raises a brow at this, “I don’t understand.”

Santana blinked, Mike had implied that Charlie wasn’t that interested in sex and that sort of thing. “Well they dated right? Like going to dinner and dancing everything that dating entails.”

“Dating sounds horrendously boring,” Charlie says with a shake of his head.

“Dating can be fun,” Santana informs him, she has no idea why she’s defending it to him. Charlie’s an odd person. “I mean I wouldn’t know, having Antonio makes it a bit harder to date but even if it didn’t I don’t think I could get married that young. I know it’s weird I have a child and I’m twenty-two—”

“Brittany’s thirty-something and Quinn’s my age, we are twins afterall.”

“Wait, how old are you?” Santana asks. She had just assumed that Charlie was somewhere around her age. He couldn’t be anything over twenty five.

“Thirty—wait” Charlie cocks his head to the side and calculates it in his mind. “No—wait, twenty-eight. Might want to double check that with Quinn to be sure. Or my mother. She’ll probably know.”

Santana blinked and turned to him, there was no way that he was over twenty-five. “I think I’ll do that. Should I be worried that you don’t know how old you are?”

Charlie waves his hand. “I don’t think that’s important.” There wasn't any major reason for him to keep track of his age anymore.

“Right, of course not. What do you think is important?”

Charlie ponders the question before shrugging, “Right now? Right now I’ve been focused on spatial movement magic and combining it with matter substitution and reconstruction and deconstruction magic all while anchoring the raw magic  to an inanimate object such as a door. Fine-tuning and calibrations come after I get that work done. Combining such high level  magic like that? Tricky, dangerous, but if I can master it and get the calculations right—” Charlie grins and looks at Santana.

“In english?”  Santana presses, there were a lot of words there and Charlie seemed excited about something.

“Oh. In layman's terms  I think the right term is teleportation?” Charlie shrugs at this.

“You mean to tell me that you guys haven’t figured out teleportation yet?”

“No, through the years people have certainly tried. Though it’s always ended _poorly_. Well, dead to be more specific.”

Santana’s eyes widen at this admission, as Charlie opens the door for her to the diner. “I thought you said—”

“I said that you’ll be fine, the magician is the one that takes all the risks. That’s what I’m doing taking all the risks.”  Charlie quickly explains.

Santana frowns. That doesn’t exactly make her feel any better. “You’re not going to cause some explosion that makes me die some horrible fiery death, right?”

“Your magical ignorance astounds me.” Charlie frowns dryly.

“It’s not _impossible_ , right? It’s be like breaking the sound barrier, right? Where there’s a burst of energy because you punched through something that everybody says is impossible? All I’m saying is make sure that you’re not going to cause some big explosion and kill me when you break through to wherever you’re trying to go.” Santana defends. She may be new to this world but she’s seen Harry Potter and it can’t be that far off.

Charlie opens his mouth to protest but then frowns as he leads her to the table. That’s actually a good point. Maybe he needed to look at spatial reconstruction a different way: he’s been calculating his reconstructions with every other aspect in space time as a fixed point, but maybe he needs to look at it more as a _displacement_ of spatial energy. “I promise I won’t try anything if I think you could get blown up.”

Santana nods. “That’s all I ask.”

The waitress comes to their table and smiles brightly. “Hi Charlie. I haven’t seen you for a few days, I missed you.”

Charlie barely glances up at her. “Yeah, I was busy. Can I get the usual?”

The waitress nods, not bothering to write it down and then seems to take note of Santana. “Oh. uh—are you two together?”

It doesn’t take a genius to see that Sheila’s mood—if her name tag is actually correct—sours. Santana glances between them before feeling compelled to explain. “No, it’s a work lunch—” When Charlie doesn’t even flinch, she nudges his leg forcibly, “—right Charlie?”

“Huh?”

“She wants to know if we’re on a _date_.”

“Oh. No. God no. Dates are boring and she’s my new assistant. That would be highly improper.” Charlie explains distractedly, pulling out a few napkins so that he can start to jot down his new ideas for spatial displacement.

“Oh.” Sheila brightens visibly at that. She turns almost ready to walk away before remembering to take Santana’s order as well.

Unimpressed, Santana orders a Caesar Salad and waits for the other girl to be out of earshot before slapping Charlie gently with the back of her hand. “You don’t have to be rude.”

“I wasn’t rude. It’s _Sheila_. She’s known me forever, she doesn’t care.”

“She was _flirting_ with you.”

“No she wasn’t.”

“Yes.” Santana insists, glancing over at their waitress who was watching their table with clear interest. “She was. You should ask her out on a date.”

“Why?” Charlie finally looks up, genuinely puzzled. “I’ve told you, dating sounds _boring_.”

Santana holds up her hands defensively. She had at least _tried_ but apparently Charlie was too dense to get it. “You don’t know that, she could be nice,” Santana offers lamely.

Charlie tilts his head at her confusion and then looks over at Sheila, he studies her for a moment. “Dragons are _nice_. They’re also more interesting than she would be.”

“You don’t know that, she could surprise you.”

“How, exactly? I have known Sheila for several years and _never_ has she exhibited the tiniest bit of magical leanings. How could I _ever_ find that interesting?” Charlie glances over at Sheila and then back at Santana studying her.

It takes her a moment to realize that Charlie is completely disconnected from _people_ , in a way that bothers her. He seems cognizant enough to be able to interact, but there’s something so alien about the way he views things—how he sees people. “So what about me?”

“What about you?” Charlie presses putting his pen down so he can focus on Santana.

“Is that the only reason you’re interested in me?” Santana replies simply, it mattered to her. For some strange reason Antonio had taken a liking to Charlie, how he viewed her and her son _mattered_.  “Because I have magical leanings as you put it.”

Charlie stares at Santana for a moment his hazel eyes searching her for a moment, “No, you aren’t special by any stretch of the imagination, which I’ve told you before. I will openly admit that I’m curious about your ability to see what isn’t there and I do see the use for it. I will also concede that your raw ability is certainly much stronger than anything I’ve ever encountered— _but_ as you are right now? You’re absolutely useless to me as an assistant.”

Santana scowled at his response and grinds her teeth, resisting the urge to smack him, but instead she exhales watching as he goes back to scribbling on napkins. “Fine, I’m _useless_ to you as an assistant, I get it—”

“Don’t feel bad about it or get offended. You are magically illiterate, this is merely a fact. But, if you must know, I think you have a lot of potential. Once you understand, once you’re _literate_ , then I think you’ll be an excellent assistant.” Charlie interrupts as he traces a rune out on the napkin.

Santana bristles at Charlie’s accusation. But he’s not _wrong_ and that makes her more furious than anything. She chews the inside of her cheek, trying to remind herself that she was getting paid a _lot_ and had free babysitting too. But there was _one_ thing she couldn’t stand for, “Look I know you think I’m beneath you and you can talk down to me all you want. I’ve heard it all before. But _please_ don’t treat Antonio like that. For some weird reason he actually looks up to you.”

Hazel eyes once again travel to Santana and Charlie rests his head in the palm of his hand. “I don’t think you’re _beneath_ me. You simply don’t _know_ anything, which works in your favor. I find other magician’s to be dreadfully boring and incredibly slow as well. At least you have the excuse of being new to the world, others do not.” Charlie responds calmly. He taps his finger along the table in a steady beat. “As for Antonio, I enjoy his curiosity.”

Santana’s lips twist into a grimace, “You don’t understand what I mean. It’s just me and Tony. My parents wanted me to give him up, and his father—his father handed me a few hundred dollars and told me to take care of it.  So I’m protective, he’s never really had a male role model to look up to, and I know I’ve been asking you for a lot and watching him in the mornings to make sure he’s ready for school back when I was working at the bakery, but please don’t just _dismiss_ him. Or treat him like he’s beneath you.”

Charlie’s fingers stop tapping on the table and he studies Santana carefully for once his brain wasn’t being pulled in a million different places at once as he focuses on the matter at hand. Santana hadn’t yet pieced together that her son might have magical ability, it was far too early to tell and he’d need to make sure that Antonio didn’t inadvertently tap into his own magic. At that age his magic would be wild and dangerous and without the proper focus he could burn himself out. It wasn’t to the point where he was worried about the boy, but he needed to be vigilant when it came to Antonio. “I have no intention of dismissing your boy, I find his curiosity refreshing and his questions to be interesting. I’ve had far more interesting conversations with him about deconstruction magic than I have with magicians who are far older than me. It’s _refreshing_. Besides, who else would supply me with a dozen cookies? I mean apart from you, but that’s only because it’s in your contract.”

Santana arches her brow, trying to check his sincerity. When she seems satisfied, she smirks. “Normally I think that’s supposed to work the other way around.” Antonio loves his dragon and thinks that Charlie could walk on air.

Charlie narrows his eyes, slightly confused. “Why would anyone offer candy to _children_?” It seems like a bad idea to supply small children with copious amounts of sugar. It’s like supplying alcohol to dwarves, it was just a terrible idea and something was going to get broken.

Santana’s about to say something when Sheila comes back to the table carrying a large tray of food. It takes her a moment to realize that the food isn’t for the other patrons in the diner as she begins to put the plates in front of Charlie as best as she can.

“Just give me a second on your salad,” Sheila offered to Santana who was staring at the food that she had just piled in front Charlie. “Don’t worry we’ve got two slices of your favorite pie waiting for you, and we’ve got a new soft-serve machine if you want some.”

“I’ll have a cone to take back,” Charlie responds picking up one of his burgers and biting into it. He lets out a pleased sound. “Compliments to the chef,” he says after a moment before grabbing a few fries and pushing them into his mouth.

Three giant cheeseburgers with a generous helping of fries with what appeared to be a giant milkshake was currently being demolished by Charlie, and Santana could only stare in horror. He wasn’t a messy eater by any stretch of the imagination as he alternated between using a fork and a knife and his hands, but that was a huge amount of food, and it wasn’t even the full meal. “How the _fuck_ are you not fat?”

Charlie grabbed his milkshake and sucked on the straw furrowing a brow at Santana as if the answer was obvious.

“Don’t you dare say _magic_ ,” Santana snapped, slightly jealous as Charlie put the milkshake down.

“Fine a very intense exercise regime, magic is _body_ and mind. I expend quite a bit of energy on a day to day basis and I need food to replenish that energy. Why do you _think_ I asked for a plate of cookies from you?”

Santana glared at him, as Sheila put her salad in front of her. She was beginning to hate magic more and more, how was _that_ fair? She sighed, at least Antonio wasn’t here, he might attempt to imitate Charlie and the last thing she wanted to do was clean up puke from the floors. “Do all of you eat like this?”

“Of course, you have no idea how many times I’ve needed to stab Quinn’s hand with a fork to get her to quit eating off my plate,” Charlie responded his mouth filled with burger.

Santana groaned every time she thought she was getting the hang of being around Charlie he did something strange like this. This job was harder than she gave it credit for, and she still had four more hours of lectures with Rachel. It was going to be a long day.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

“So, I don’t understand,” Santana says running a hand through her hair. “If you can do magic—well why are you an assistant?”

Rachel fights the urge to find offense at the comment. Santana simply didn’t know any better. “There’s nothing wrong with being an assistant. We’re not _below_ Magician’s by any stretch of the imagination.” She nods towards the store which is still in a state of disarray. “A good magician needs an assistant like they need their hands.”

Santana frowns slightly tilting her head to make sure that Antonio was still doing his homework quietly at the counter. His dragon is curled up sleeping beside him and the store is relatively quiet. She turns back to Rachel, “I thought Charlie was a _special_ case.”

It’s enough to bring a smile to Rachel’s lips. “Well, he is. But this isn’t completely unusual,” Rachel comments, she had put so much effort into the store and now it was a mess. “I suppose that this is a perfect segue into the hierarchy of magicians. After a magician completes their schooling, they are given a series of incredibly difficult tests to gauge their skill level. Like the mundane world those with the best scores will be matched with the best magicians around the country so that they can begin their apprenticeship. It’s also important to note that they also need to match each newly created apprentice with a magician that matches their discipline, which is where the problem lies. There aren’t enough _magicians_ for that. If you’re not a strong enough magician or if your grades are atrocious, then there is a chance that you simply won’t get an apprenticeship.”

“So is that what happened to you? You didn’t get an apprenticeship.”

Rachel made a face and looked away, “My grades were _fine_ , better than average. If I had the raw ability that most magicians have—I can do simple spells, average ones I don’t have the magic to do complicated things. I was never going to be accepted as an apprentice, I was never going to pass the final exam. My advisor suggested that I switch into the assistant program, while it may have crushed my spirits at the time, ultimately I think it was the right decision. I was already ahead of the curve because of my magician background and assistants that can do simple spells are in high demand.”

“Oh, good for you.” Santana cringed at how that sounded. She shook her head. “Sometimes I find it hard to believe that Charlie somehow managed to pass.”

Rachel snorts and then realizes that Santana was being serious, “Magic generally runs in families, the more _pure_ your bloodline is the stronger the next generation generally is, as a rule of thumb. Every now and again a family that is _rich_ in magic will produce a mundane child. I personally believe the very first assistant was from one of those families.” Rachel smiles at the thought.

“So who’s the strongest?” Santana inquired. “Out of Charlie and his sisters?”

“Power wise? Quinn’s definitely the most powerful, then Charlie and probably Brittany.”

“Of course, you aren’t biased at all, right?” Santana scoffs dryly. She didn’t expect Rachel to talk badly about her wife, but she was genuinely curious.

Rachel laughs, amused by Santana’s honesty. It was refreshing, in a way and from what Mike had reported Santana already had Charlie on a short leash. “I am biased, Quinn is my wife. But, if you don’t believe me you can ask Charlie and Brittany, both of them will confirm that Quinn does have more raw magical ability than the two of them. They might report that _reluctantly_ but it’s true. But—the reverse is true. While Quinn may be the strongest, Brittany is a genius when it comes to the theoretical side of magic. In fact many in the magician community think it’s a waste that she’s spending all her time running a zoo instead of spending all her time creating new magic. Charlie is also brilliant when it comes to theory, Quinn on the other hand—well not so much.” It was why Charlie and Brittany could blow Quinn’s wards to hell despite being exceptionally powerful. It always made Quinn furious and she could never quite figure out how they did it.

Antonio watched his mom study from the corner of the shop with a frown. This was _so_ boring. Spot nips at his fingers, and he smirks. He didn’t realize dragons got bored too. He glances at his mom before picking Spot up and moving toward the big heavy curtain. He bites his lip before poking his head inside. “Mr. Charlie?”

Charlie looked up from where he was sitting down, a coin rotating rapidly in the air just above his outstretched hand. There were massive papers spread out on a work bench in front of him. “Antonio? What are you doing back here?” He closes his fist catching the coin and he shifts so he can get a better look at the hairless dwarf.

“I’m _bored_ and I wanna see some more magic.” Antonio hesitates and looks around. “There isn’t any spiders back here are there?”

“Nope. Even if there were, Spot there would protect you.” It was one of the good things about dragons, they were like natural nannies. There wasn’t much trouble a boy could get into that a dragon wouldn’t be able to protect him from. He motions for Antonio to enter. “I can’t keep doing magic for you Antonio, I’m not here to amuse you.”

“You’re not?” Antonio furrows his brow.

“Of course not, _you’re_ the hairless dwarf.” Charlie puts down the coin and smirks. “If anyone should be entertaining someone, _you_ should entertain me.”

“But I can’t do magic.”

Charlie hums at Antonio’s assertion. He’s _fairly_ certain that isn’t completely true but he will just have to wait it out. “So entertain me with dragon tricks. Show me how far you’ve managed to go with her training. Can she sit? Or blow fireballs?”  

Antonio crinkled his nose and looked at Spot, “Her? You said it was a boy!”

He hadn’t really paid much attention to the dragon but looking at it now and noticing it’s small baby horns gave away it’s sex. “I gave you a dragon what does it matter if it’s a girl dragon? They end up bigger and stronger than the male ones anyway. Smarter too, and she’s protected you so why does it matter?”

“Spot’s a _boy’s name_.” Antonio insisted. “And girls have _cooties!_ ”

“Well, Antonio. I’m sorry to tell you this but Spot is a terrible name for a dragon. So, you should probably rename her. Also, she’s a dragon. They are _very_ clean animals. I mean you haven’t had to deal with any dragon droppings, have you?”

“Mom makes it go outside on the balcony, in a litter box.” Antonio explains approaching Charlie, his eyes darting around carefully looking for giant spiders.

Charlie shakes his head. That’s probably completely unnecessary, but it never hurts to teach dragons rules while they are young. “So, does she know any tricks?” He asks again.

Antonio brightens and steps in front of his dragon enthusiastically. “Yeah, watch this.” He squares his shoulders, “Spot, sit.”

The dragon cocks her head to the side and huffs a warm plume of smoke.

“Sit.” Antonio repeats.

Spot backs up but doesn’t really come close to sitting. Her eyes are wide as she watches Antonio’s every movement for a hint as to what she’s supposed to do. After a minute, she loses interest and starts sniffing about the back room.

Even as Spot buries her head in some of Charlie’s older dusty books, Antonio beams. “Did you see that? She was _so_ close!”

Charlie scratches his head thoughtfully. It was better than nothing, but he wasn’t exactly an animal trainer himself. He grins as he remembers a couple of books he has laying around. It only takes about half an hour of having Antonio read out the names of the old books before he finds the one he’s looking for. “Here. This should help you with dragon training.”

“Thanks!” Antonio beams and somehow manhandles the book that’s nearly as big as himself under his arm.

Charlie cocks his head to the side at Antonio’s exuberance. “I thought your mom said you were feeling sick.”

Antonio’s shoulders droop a little, “Oh. Yeah. I’m real sick.”

“Oh.” Charlie nods even though he doesn’t believe it for a second. He knew what it was like to claim being sick just to get out of uncomfortable situations. Unfortunately, his mother was the best healer that he knew so it never worked. It usually ended up with him getting a mouthful of something that tasted absolutely revolting and his mother’s amused smile.

After a few minutes of watching Charlie work, Antonio drums his fingers against the table. “So how do you prove that magic exists?”

Charlie puts down the book he wasn’t really reading. He hasn’t really thought about it before because he hasn’t ever needed to. Magic existed the same way air existed, it just _was_. “Well I would _probably_ do some extreme spell like transfiguration or summoning a dragon—”

“That’s what you did to prove to my mom.”

“You’re right, and it worked.” Charlie declared triumphantly.

Antonio seemed to process the information and Charlie watched him for a minute before prodding gently. “Why do you need to prove that magic exists?” It wasn’t an issue right now, no one really believed little people when they said that magic existed, the mundanes thought it was cute.

Antonio shrugs and immediately looks away.

“It’s not the same reason you’re ‘real sick’ is it?” Charlie asks pointedly.

Antonio huffs at being called out. He’s used to not getting away with _anything_ but his mom’s been distracted enough that she didn’t notice he was telling a lie. He wasn’t sick, he just didn’t like going to school. “Mom says it’s not nice to hit girls but she pushed me and I scraped my knee and she says _magic_ is for babies.”

“Well that’s ridiculous, what magic would babies be able to do?” Charlie asks crinkling his nose. Babies were even less trustworthy than little people and they smelled funny too.

Antonio smiled at this, Charlie was right, what magic would babies be able to do? He just needed to show her that magic was real and cool. “So can you teach me how to summon a dragon?”

“No.” Charlie responds flatly.

“Oh, what about that card trick that you showed everyone can you show me how to do that?”

“I did four spells in quick succession, all of which are advanced spells,” Charlie comments absentmindedly. “The answer by the way is no.”

Antonio huffed at this response as he struggled to hold onto the book that Charlie had given him watching as Charlie opened his palm and the coin began to levitate he watched in amazement. “Why not?”

“Because dwarfs, even the hairless kind can’t do magic? That and I’m far too young to take on an apprentice, not to mention I’m not quite sure your mother would approve and I want to keep your mom happy so she is my assistant.” Charlie explains.

Antonio made a face at this, “That’s not fair,” Antonio grumbled shaking his head. Maybe if he asked his mom to ask Charlie he would do it.

Charlie watched Antonio for a moment before tilting his head. “Well, you’re a hairless dwarf. I’m pretty sure you already know the meaning of unfair.” Charlie comments deciding to ignore the sour look that Antonio gives him. He turns back to his work and taps the table.

“But—”

“Antonio?” Santana called, there was a frantic note in her voice as she pulled back the heavy curtain and frowned at the sight of her child carrying a massive book and looking a bit guilty. “What are you doing back here? I thought this place was off-limits.”

“Yes, when _I’m_ not around to supervise,” Charlie comments absentmindedly. “He’s perfectly safe in here while I’m here.”

Santana shakes her head and stares at the large thick book in Antonio’s arms, she couldn’t even get him to read books normally and now here he was carrying large archaic books in his arms, he’d spend most of the night stumbling over words and asking her what they meant. “Still, you shouldn’t bother Charlie while he works. I don’t trust him not to get distracted and accidentally blow something up.”

“Really?” Antonio asks looking at Charlie. “Can you teach me how to do that?”

“No.” Charlie responds before Santana can say anything. He stares at Spot for a moment before picking the dragon up and placing it on the ground. He really did need to focus on creating this new protection ward.  

Antonio huffs, and looks at his mom, his bottom lip trembling, but he was rewarded with a look from his mom that let him know that he wasn’t going to get his way.

“Have you finished your homework? Rachel and I are done for the day, but let me make sure your homework is done and I’ll make dinner.”

“That’s an excellent idea, I’m starving.” Charlie declares finally paying attention and getting up. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until Santana had said something.

Santana narrowed her eyes at him, there was no way she was doing this whole ‘magician’s assistant’ thing by day _and_ cooking for him and taking care of him at night. “No. We’re not doing this.” She shakes her head.

“Doing what?”

“This thing where you invite yourself over for dinner. No. Figure out your own food.” She turns to her son and smiles at him. “I’ll make you your favorite.”

Antonio grins pleased and looks over at Charlie, “Mom makes the best Enchiladas.” He smirks at Charlie who crinkles his nose. “Come on Spot, let’s go for dinner!”

Charlie watches them go and makes a face. The least Santana could do was make him dinner once in a while. He was all but raising her son and he was curious as to what enchiladas were. They sounded delicious. “Well, I guess I’ll just go back to the diner and have some steak.” He mumbles mostly to himself. Maybe he could go visit his parents and get his mother to make him something to eat. But he didn’t like the idea of dinner with a lecture. He sighs inwardly.

Rachel had poked her head in to make sure that everything was okay and she noticed the look on Charlie’s face. It was a look she hadn’t seen on Charlie’s face before, well not directed towards anything other than his work at least. “Santana’s pretty nice, right?”

Charlie’s frown deepens. “No. She’s rude and opinionated, and she makes me watch her hairless dwarf and won’t even make me dinner to say thank you!”

“What’s she supposed to be thanking you for?” Rachel fights a smirk. She never thought she’d see the day that Charlie was _actually_ attracted to another human being. Quinn isn’t going to believe her.

“Free babysitting? Letting her be my assistant? Introducing her to the world of magic?” Charlie crosses his arms over his chest. “Take your pick.”

“You know, if you want to spend more time with her, Quinn asked me on a date. We went to dinner and she brought me flowers—”

“Gross.” Charlie grumbled in disgust. “That sounds incredibly boring.” He pauses after a second. “Wait, maybe you’re right—not about that because dating _is_ boring. But Santana said Quinn offered you something, a perk to being married. What is it?”

Rachel choked. “Um, well Charlie—”

“I don’t have time for your embarrassment.” Charlie waves his hand dismissively. “Just tell me. What does Quinn give you.”

“Charlie, we’re _married._ You did catch us naked with each other. Several times if my mortification remembers correctly.”

Charlie grimaces at the memory. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Why would I want to get naked with another person?” He wonders aloud.

Rachel’s jaw drops. When she planned her day today, she had been prepared for just about anything. Not even she could have anticipated this. Was she supposed to explain sex to him? That seemed awfully uncomfortable.

But Charlie didn’t even notice Rachel’s disbelief. “It makes even less sense for you, since the pair of you can’t procreate. What’s the point?”

Rachel rolled her eyes, “We’re hardly the _first_ same-sex magical pairing. There are spells for that, in fact there are quite a few sex spells if you’re interested in that sort of thing.”

“I’m not,” Charlie said flatly. “The only thing I trust less than a little person is a baby. They smell awful, no little thing should smell that bad.” He shudders and frowns and then looks at Rachel and squints at her. “You let _Quinn_ cast spells?”

“She’s not _that_ bad. In fact, she’s incredibly talented thank you very much.” Rachel shakes her head. If it were anyone else, she’d be horrendously offended at the insult to her wife, but she understands Charlie more than most people.

“Perhaps.” Charlie comments offhandedly, he would certainly never trust Quinn to do sex spells correctly. He shrugs it off, it was Rachel’s funeral if that was the case.  His stomach growls and Charlie looks up at Rachel expectantly. “What are we having for dinner?”

“We?”

“If I can’t have enchiladas, then whatever you make for Quinn will probably suffice.”

Rachel stares at her former employer for a moment, her heart truly went out to Santana. “No Charlie. I’m having a nice dinner with _my_ wife and you aren’t invited.”

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a little over three weeks of regularly scheduled training sessions and both Mike and Rachel were astounded at Santana’s progress. She still struggled with any spell that was beyond a beginner level, but she had already memorized various poisons and antidotes along with being able to recognize most magical animals at a glance. Though if Charlie was impressed he wasn’t that keen on showing it.

“So, I don’t understand why you still write using the runic alphabet? Wouldn’t it be easier to simply translate everything into—well normal letters?”

“We do, but some of the older spells well there aren’t _English_ equivalents, you know and mixing the two well there have been issues that we haven’t yet solved.” Rachel explained. “You’ve noticed that some of the complicated spells, well they aren’t in English. Magician’s have to have a rudimentary understanding of many other languages. Honestly it’s why many magician’s don’t manage to get past the first semester without repeating. That’s why it’s good to start teaching them early. Quinn knows eight languages—”

“Ten. She’s fluent in ten,” Charlie interrupts as he exits his workspace pulling the heavy curtain out of the way a small box tucked under his arm. “That is if you treat gibberish and ancient troll as separate languages, which people _should_ and I’m sure Quinn does.”

Santana glanced between Rachel and Mike who looked just as confused as she felt. “Sometimes, I can’t tell when you’re joking.”

“Good.” He shoves the box toward Santana. “So for your first real act as my assistant, I need you to deliver this box for me.”

Santana eyed the box carefully, there were no air holes which probably meant that it wasn’t alive, which was good, but it was Charlie. It was quite possible that he had simply forgotten to put in the air holes. “What’s in it?”

“Nothing dangerous.” Charlie promised. At the trio of skeptical looks, he sighs. “Nothing dangerous _on it’s own_. And I’m the magician here.” He pushed the box a little closer to Santana and glared at the two traitors. “It’s _just_ a delivery.”

“Where am I taking it?” Santana asked refusing to touch the box just yet.

“Downtown. The address is on the box.” Charlie responded pointing at his messy scrawl.

“ _Charlie_.”

“What? She’s _my_ assistant! That means doing the stuff _I don’t_ want to do.” He crosses his arms defiantly over his chest. “I thought you two both said she was ready.”

“Ready for you to ask her to box up orders—”

“Or maybe sort through your client files.” Rachel amends, sharing a look with Mike. They both know what ‘take this Downtown’ is code for and neither of them were planning on introducing Santana to the rest of the Fabrays anytime soon. Even though they were one of the more powerful magical families around, they were hardly the most well liked.

Santana’s head snapped between Rachel and Charlie, trying to gauge the level of danger here. If Charlie was going to murder her by dropping off some box, then she was done.

“It’s not like I’m asking her to extract a basilisk fang. Though—”

“You _are_ asking her to run deliveries to your _father._ ” Rachel retorts. Of the three of them, she had been Charlie’s assistant the longest and she was the one who could call him out on his odd behaviors the easiest.

“ _Please_ , I’ve seen scarier boggarts than my father,” Charlie shook his head. He didn’t quite understand why Mike and Rachel were scared of him. He was a grouchy old man who drank far too much and scowled way to often and liked to throw his weight around. He also was a bit of a blowhard and he was busy, he didn’t have time to listen to lectures about his life choices.

“Then why aren’t you doing this?” Mike questions.

“Because, I don’t want to?” Charlie reminds him and looks at Santana. “Just tell him you’re not in the union and he’ll probably offer you a cigar, don’t take one. Mom makes him a special blend, I don’t know what’s in it. Also don’t take any drinks that he offers, that _dwarven_ alcohol. Tastes like dirt and it will knock you on our ass.”

“Also don’t look him in the eye, call him Mr. Fabray, or _Russell_ for that matter and don’t comment on his receding hairline.” Mike adds with a roll of his eyes. He’s been married to Brittany for _years_ and Russell still scared the shit out of him.

Santana stared at Mike before taking the box from Charlie, “Fine, but if he tries anything—” She frowns at scrawl and points to it. “Is this some sort of new language? Where do I find him?”

“Oh he works in the financial district, you really can’t miss it. It’s basically the biggest building in the area. He works on the top floor—don’t let him show you the view.” Mike adds after a moment shuddering. He was sure there was some threat there about being tossed out the window.

“Honestly Mike, you met him _forever_ ago. Surely you realize that half the stories about him are just rumors.”

“And who _exactly_ do you think told me every single rumor about your father?” Mike retorts. When Charlie shrugs blankly, Mike holds up his left hand and points to his wedding ring.

“I don’t know what that means,” Charlie admits and looks at Santana. “Don’t be like Mike and Rachel, he’ll probably like you. He doesn’t have anymore children that can poach you away.”

“Uh—” Mike winces when Rachel elbows him in the ribs and smiles. “Right. No more girls, he’s a bit overprotective of them.”

Santana rolled her eyes, from what she gathered Russell was just an overprotective father who didn’t necessarily approve of his daughter’s life choices. She could handle that, he probably wasn’t going to turn her into a toad or something. “So Magician’s work in the financial district?”

“Some. Russell works as a banking liaison between the regular world and some of the more profitable magician endeavours. Magician’s have their own economy even if it operates alongside that of the normal everyday person. Russell’s been one of the financial advisors to the magical community for as long as anyone can remember.”

“However do you think I pay you?” Charlie asks raising a brow.

Santana tilts her head, Charlie had a point. In all the time that she had worked here, no one had entered the store yet Charlie paid her on time every single week. It was actually rather responsible of him and it made her slightly uncomfortable. “Okay, so I just hand this over to him and then what?”

“You leave.” Charlie shakes his head, that was obvious. He didn’t see why Santana would want to spend time talking to his father. “Are you _sure_ she’s ready?”

“Ready to play glorified pizza delivery girl? I’m sure I can handle it.” Santana scoffed at him. She had no idea why she was learning all of this if Charlie was only going to treat her like a glorified delivery girl.

Charlie’s stomach rumbled causing everyone to look at him, not really surprised. “Hmm, speaking of pizza perhaps on your way back you can—”

“No. You have a phone, they deliver, use it,” Santana snaps at him glancing at the time, she could get back before Antonio was done from school

~0~

Santana glances down at the chicken-scratch on the brown box in her hand, verifying the address. She felt woefully underdressed in jeans and a low-cut top among the suits and designer heels that seemed to swarm around her. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders she strode confidently into the swanky office building. She bullshits her way through obtaining a visitor badge and after a short elevator ride arrives at the lobby of the top floor. The receptionist glances up and visibly rolls his eyes before glancing back at his work and ignoring her completely.

She clears her throat. “I need to speak with Russell Fabray.”

“No we’re not looking to hire a new cleaning lady.” He snarks at her without even bothering to actually look up. “So take your samples and go.”

Santana grits her teeth. “I have a package for him.”

“Unless you’re a terrorist that I need to call in a bomb threat, there’s _no way_ you are speaking to Mr. Fabray without an appointment.”

Santana fights the urge to smack this good for nothing lackey as hard as she can. No wonder Charlie didn’t want to come here. “Listen dipshit, I’ve got something _sensitive_ for Russell and I can either leave it here on your overpriced desk where it might burp an acid fire ring right into the tabletop or I can deliver it personally so that no _unfortunate_ accidents happen to you.”

“Is that a threat?” The secretary demanded frowning and resting his hand on the phone getting ready to call security.

Santana crinkles her nose before quickly realizing that there was a good chance that he was a regular person who had no idea of all the _weirdness_ around him. A few months ago, _that_ was her, now she probably sounded like a crazy person. She bites the inside of her cheek hard before forcing a smile on her lips, “I work for Charlie _Fabray_. You know Russell’s son, so if you want to be the idiot that explains to him why his package was turned away then go ahead and be my guest.”

The man frowned, but pressed a couple buttons on the phone and picked up the receiver. “Mr. Smythe? A woman is here claiming to have a package from Mr. Fabray’s son.”

 _‘Send her back Kurt.’_ Santana could hear the instruction as much as she could see the frustration written on the asshole’s face.

“Yes, sir.”

Santana smiled smugly, ignoring the man’s glare as he stood and took her back to one of the fancy corner offices. “Try not to steal anything.” He sneered, pointing the way to Russell’s personal assistant.

Santana twitched, she could definitely see why Charlie wanted nothing to do with this place. He probably found the place stuffy and boring, and they probably thought he was weird. Charlie _was_ weird even by magician standards according to Mike and Rachel, and she was a bit curious to see if that was genetic. She sighed when she noticed another desk outside of an office and sighed, at least she knew her ticket inside without to much hassle. She forces a smile onto her face and heads toward the next desk.

“Put whatever you’ve got over there.” Russell’s assistant didn’t bother looking up from behind his stacks of paperwork.

Santana frowns. She already thinks Russell’s a bit of an asshole if these are the people he surrounds himself with. “I was given explicit instructions to give this to Mr. Fabray by his son, and he’s expecting me so—”

The man’s head snapped up, he would recognize that voice _anywhere_. “Santana?”

Santana froze in place. No. It couldn’t be. “What the fuck are you doing here?” She asked before she could stop herself.”

He seemed to be just as shocked as she was, but he smirked at her question. “I’m _working_. I’ve already been here longer than Mr. Fabray’s last three assistants combined.” He studies her for a moment, “What happened to you? Rumor has it that your parents sent you to boarding school after _you know_.”

“ _You know_ happens to be almost seven and I haven’t talked to my parents since they kicked me out.” Santana frowns. She had hoped to never see Sebastian again. Even after eight years it was too soon.

“You _had it_?” Sebastian gapes. Santana’s parents had been close friends with his own parents and were ridiculously conservative. He hadn’t ever mentioned it to his own parents but whispers of Santana’s disappearance still were the talk of their small hometown. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“I got to the point where I couldn’t exactly hide it anymore. Once I told them, there wasn’t really any going back.”

“I don’t know why you told them I gave you the money to take care of it didn’t I?”

“Maybe I didn’t want to ‘take care of it’?” Santana blows out her breath and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Look, can I just talk to Russell? I have something for him. Then we can pretend like we never saw each other.”

Sebastian stares at her, he didn’t even know what to make of this information. “I didn’t agree to be a father—”

“Good because I never asked you to be one,” Santana sneers at him defensively. One day Antonio might want to meet his father, he had asked but he had the attention span of a gnat and he at least understood that she was a single parent. Now that he had his dragon and seemed to worship the ground Charlie walked on, which she was going to have to do something about, he didn’t particularly seem interested in the question of paternity. “It’s your loss, he’s a good kid.”

Sebastian frowns at this and doesn’t say anything right away, “I told you to get rid of it remember—we could have made something of our lives together.” He studied her carefully, the Santana he knew would never have been caught dead in something so _cheap_. “Look, if you’re hard up for cash, I can give you money. A one-time thing, of course. I don’t want you and your child living on the streets—”

And just like that Santana remembers exactly why she was so glad that Antonio never had to meet his father. “Actually, I make a lot of money working for Russell’s son. We’re fine. Better than fine, actually.”

“Of course you are.” Sebastian placates, not believing it for a second. He grimaces a little at the thought of Santana and _their_ child in his life. It would be a nightmare. He glanced upward, hoping for a burst of inspiration at how he could tactfully keep them as far away from him as possible. “I could see if the office cleaner is hiring?” He offers hopefully. Maybe that would be enough involvement to last him through the child’s lifetime. “I know that they pay more than minimum wage and I can put in a good word for you since Mr. Fabray is such an important figure in the financial industry and _I’m_ his assistant.”

Santana narrowed her eyes. It was petty, but she had enough of being talked down to. She knew for a fact that Sebastian was a mundane, that his family didn’t have an ounce of magic in them. He wasn’t Russell’s _actual_ assistant, just some human lackey to do the paperwork. “I’m _Charlie’s_ assistant and I can guarantee that I make more than you.”

“Charlie?” Sebastian scoffed, it wasn’t if the Fabray’s were known for their generosity. “What type of self-respecting adult man calls himself _Charlie_?”

“My son, unfortunately.” Russell interrupts coldly glaring at his receptionist. This mundane wasn’t as bad as most of them, but he had a high opinion of himself and a poor work ethic. “His mother doted on him far too much, and he was a fat baby. It stuck.” He turns to Santana studying her for a moment, his son was in the habit of picking out attractive people to work for him and this was no exception. “You have a package for me?”

“Yes sir,” Santana explained holding it out for him.

Russell studied the box for a moment before turning around and motioning Santana inside. “Come in. Sebastian, cancel whatever appointments I have for the rest of the day. Also, put Santana on the list of people who will be flagged through to see me whenever she arrives.”

“Sir?” Sebastian’s eyes widened at this looking back at Santana who didn’t even give him a look.

Russell ignores Sebastian completely and focuses on Santana with a warm friendly smile. “So Santana, tell me. Is my son still—”

Santana waits for him to finish his statement but when he doesn’t she shrugs, “Weird? Yes.”

Russell snorted, “I was going to say, still stuck in his own head? But I suppose that will suffice.” He sighs heavily. “Well, his mother will be disappointed then. You have no idea how many matches that I’ve tried to make him.”

“I can only imagine.” Santana chuckles.

Russell studies Santana for a moment, “I’m surprised he managed to get someone else from the academy, he’s gone through so many. I’ve had my own assistant since I graduated. Of course that was before the damn union decided to go after hard-working—”

“I’m not from the union.” Santana interrupts, gesturing her head toward Sebastian who was still listening with dumbstruck horror.

“Sam, order us in some lunch.” Russell dismisses him with finality, gently leading Santana inside his spacious office and shutting the door firmly behind them. He raises his hand creating a quick dome of silence around them before turning to look at her. “You aren’t part of the union?”

“Uh, no. I didn’t go to any academy, I was just like Sebastian until I saw his advertisement in the paper and his help wanted sign in the doorway—I’m being trained by Mike and Rachel though.”

“I would hardly call that training.” Russell rolls his eyes. Mike and Rachel both had been adequate assistants but both of them had been easily distracted by his daughters. It still set him on edge to think of either of his daughters as married women and it was no secret that he didn’t approve. Mike was practically a mundane and Rachel was merely a failed magician. He frowns, Santana would have to be fairly gifted to have seen Charlie’s advertisements. It was something that he’d look into at the very least. And with Charlie he was sure that he couldn’t be picky. “What you need is someone who can focus on you full time.”

“Rachel and Mike seem to think—”

“Rachel and Mike can barely string together a coherent spell.” Russell nods along with himself. It’s a brilliant idea. He quickly sends a message off to Terri and has an almost instantaneous reply. “There. Terri will be at Charlie’s shop tomorrow. I think we can have you exactly where you need to be to make sure my son doesn’t blow himself up.”

“I knew it.” Santana muttered under her breath. “He told me he hadn’t blown himself up in ages—he does that?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Russell shrugs. He gestures for Santana to take a seat. “If you’re going to be my son’s assistant, you’re going to have to be the very best.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I really don’t want to inconvenience you—”

“Nonsense.” Russell waves away the concern. “I barely practice magic anymore and Terri is always itching for a new challenge.” He had grown busy with the day to day operations of managing the financial aspects for their world and while it had made them a small fortune it didn’t give him a lot of time to practice magic.

“My son’s the same way.” Santana admits, offering a small tidbit of personal information to gauge Russell appropriately. It was a skill that she had always chalked up to her Mexican third eye, but only recently had learned was an ability to read people better than most. She could sense when someone was bullshitting her and if she was going to interact with Charlie’s family on a daily basis, she needed to know what she was up against.

“You don’t look old enough to have a son.”

“Maybe you should take a look in the mirror.” Santana retorts quickly. Russell wasn’t anything like the mean old miser she had been expecting and she would have guessed he was only about a decade older than Charlie.

“Point taken.” He smiles widely. “But _I_ have a healer as a wife who supplies her famous cure-all balm on her poor pathetic husband.”

“Is that the purple goop? Charlie gave me some when Antonio was feeling sick.”

Russell arched his brow but didn’t comment. For Charlie to make such a step, maybe his son _wasn’t_ as ‘special’ as he had always assumed. Well _that_ would certainly be a welcome surprise. But rather than making Charlie’s new assistant feel uncomfortable, he jumped on the next natural question. “Antonio? Is that your son?”

Santana nods, feeling a weight off her shoulders at the gentle acceptance from someone she barely knew. Charlie might not like the snooty office staff and the extravagant building, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as it could have been. She was used to having to defend herself and her teenaged decisions. This was a welcome surprise. “Yes, he’s six. Charlie summoned him a dragon and now Tony is convinced he’s going to be a great magician.”

“A dragon is a good pet for a boy.” Russell tries to fight a smirk. He had been trying to set Charlie up for _years_ and couldn’t even get his boy to summon a rose for his date. A _dragon_? Maybe Charlie wasn’t hopeless after all. “One of the worst pets we ever got was a griffin that still terrorizes poor Charlie to this day.”

“Lord Tubbington?” Santana fights a shiver at the memory of a nearly dead Charlie bleeding out in front of her. “Charlie’s mentioned it.”

“The griffin has held a grudge ever since Charlie stepped on it’s tail. Charlie has refused to apologize and now twenty years later they are still trying to kill one another.” Russell admits fondly. Charlie clearly had been in the wrong but at some point their feud had become ridiculous. He watches Santana, wondering whether she knows about the strength of bloodlines and magical abilities if she had grown up as a mundane. “But that’s one of the trials of raising a young precocious magician. I’m sure you’ll get to experience that.”

“What?”

Apparently she had no idea. “If you have an inclination toward magic, I would expect your son might have some abilities as well. It’s entirely possible that with the right schooling he could become a great magician.”

“It is?” Santana frowns. She had only been joking. With a new world of magic opened to her, all she saw were the new dangers now available. She hadn’t even considered that Antonio might get sucked into this world too. It was bad enough he had a _dragon_ maybe she needed to re-think this.

Russell nods. “I’m sure if you have any questions my son will be happy to help—” Russell stops himself when he remembers just who he is talking about, “—or at the very least he will be happy to tell you who to talk to to _get_ help. Just remember, my door is always open.”

“Thank you, Mr. Fabray.”

“Please, call me Russell.” He grinned. “And maybe you can put in a good word with my son so that he might come and drop off these packages in person.”

“What is it?” Santana asked, feeling a little nosy. “He told me to drop it off and leave as soon as possible.”

“Aged dwarven ale.” Russell fingers the box gently. “It’s rare and Charlie is one of the only suppliers in the city. Amusing because he is distrustful of small people but unfortunately that means I have to put up with his ridiculous shop and parlor tricks while he tries to blow up his building.”

“Has he ever succeeded?” Santana asked skeptically. She was living in that building. The last thing she needed was some rogue spell to destroy everything.

“As long as you stay a few feet away when he’s trying a new spell, I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Russell was quick to assure. “And don’t be an idiot. Most of Charlie’s mishaps come when he is distracted.” It hadn’t happened in a few years, but it was still something to be wary of. “It’s actually the most common mistake, a dropped syllable could be _bad_.”

Santana smirks. She could just picture Charlie sitting in the back corner of his father’s office, trying to summon some weird-ass object only to start a small fire. She could totally see it. Leaning back in her chair, she smirks. “So tell me some stories about Charlie—I’m going to need blackmail material for when he gets out of line.”

“I’m not sure that will work. Charlie’s sisters have long believed that boy has no shame. I don’t think he has any shame either to be frank.” Russell chuckles but is ready to comply.  

“Try me.”

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

Santana sighed, she had stayed far too long in Russell’s office. She had no idea why Rachel and Mike didn’t like him. The food had been good and watching Sebastian and that other one Kurt give her looks of utter disdain and jealousy—it had made it worth it. She wasn’t quite sure _what_ she was going to do with the fact that Sebastian was now in the periphery of her life. It had been _one_ stupid, drunken mistake with someone who had been her best friend. But the moment that she had gotten pregnant Sebastian had simply bailed. She had been the one who had her family disown her, she had been the one to get a GED instead of finishing high school.

Being Charlie’s assistant, being a _magician_ assistant had not been her goal in life. She had wanted to do something important, life-changing. To be a doctor, or some high-paid lawyer working on cases that could take her all the way to the supreme court. Maybe she could have ended up in a position like Russell’s ruling the financial world with an iron fist.

All of her dreams had seemed out of reach when she had found out that she was pregnant. She couldn’t—she hadn’t been able to simply get rid of it, like it was just some inconvenience to her like Sebastian had wanted. So she had told her parents, she had truly expected her parents to rally around her to tell her that it was okay and that she could still do everything she wanted and they’d help her. But they hadn’t, they had wanted her to give the baby up for adoption and to keep this as quiet as possible. She had thought about it, until she had held Antonio for the first time, and she knew that she could never give him up. That decision had cost her everything. Her parents had made it clear that it was _their_ rules or she could leave _their_ house. She had chosen to leave.

It hadn’t been easy, in fact it had been a real struggle especially in the earlier years when she didn’t have the whole budget thing figured out. So maybe being Charlie’s assistant wasn’t the worst possible job in the world, she wasn’t paying anything for rent, she had more money for food and clothes and saving. She was saving everything she could and maybe she’d start making investments soon. She wanted to have a safety net in case Charlie accidentally killed himself doing something incredibly stupid. It was more than likely that Charlie ended up doing that so it was really important that she had a strong safety net.

Santana sighs and looks at the shop door, she had no idea how her life had taken a turn for the weird and the downright strange. She was _learning_ as quickly as she could to fit in this new world, but she wasn’t sure if she even truly belonged in it. But, unlike the mundanes, she hadn’t been looked down upon. Maybe the weird and strange wasn’t _that_ bad. Though, she wouldn’t hesitate to admit that she _hated_ Antonio’s dragon, with it’s creepy pupil-less red eyes. Her son had no idea how creepy his pet was, and the beast had taken to watching her when Antonio was distracted, especially when she was cooking.

She really needed to talk to someone about training the damn thing. Antonio clearly had no idea what he was doing feeding it dragon treats whenever he thought it did something cool. Not to mention the fact that he ‘shared’ his vegetables with it when she was looking. She was definitely going to talk to Brittany when they went to go to her zoo about how to train the damn thing. She pushes open the front door to the store hearing the familiar chime. She takes a step forward and nearly trips over Antonio’s backpack.  “ _Antonio—_ ”

“That’s _awesome!_ Are you using magic? Can I do that?” Antonio’s excited voice came from Charlie’s work room.

It was enough to make her heart stop and she quickly moved to the back, she wasn’t comfortable with Antonio’s hero worship of Charlie. She also wasn’t comfortable when he went into the backroom without her. She grabs Antonio’s bag and immediately heads to the back room. “Antonio, what have I said about going back there—”

“I don’t see how this game is interesting, it’s very unrealistic,” Charlie comments off-handedly. “Board games, I understand the pun now,” he comments offhandedly glancing up at the mirror that’s behind Antonio. “D3. I suppose I could make this far more interesting—an animation spell, small explosions—”

“No.” Santana interrupts before Charlie can convince himself to do something dangerous.

Charlie glances at Santana surprise on his features. “You’re back.”

“I am,” Santana frowns at him and moves to Antonio to make sure that he was okay. “Why do you sound surprised?”

“Because, Mike convinced me that my father was going to throw you out the window. I of course didn’t think it was true, and Rachel suggested that he might turn you into something. I _know_ that’s not true, my father hasn’t done a spell in years. I doubt he remembers how to. I was wondering if he tried to recruit you. My family has this weird obsession with my assistants.” Charlie turns his attention back to Antonio. “Did I sink your battleship?” He asks dryly.

Antonio nods, his eyes wide with unabashed awe. “How do you _do_ that?”

Charlie smirks but holds his finger to his lips. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

“You _said_ you wouldn’t use magic.” Antonio retorts.

“I’m not.”

Antonio huffs and looks at his mom and smiles at her, “Hi mom! We’re playing battleship!”

“I can see that,”  Santana responds rubbing his back. Her son was so easily amused that she was slightly worried about him. “Your father didn’t offer me a job, no he basically told me that I should use his assistant full time.”

“E5,” Antonio calls out as Charlie’s head turns back to Santana.

“For what?” Charlie furrows his brow. Assistants don’t really need to work with other assistants, that’s what magicians are for. He glances back at Antonio. “Miss.”

“To help prepare me for the exam?” Santana answers slowly. “He’s not really fond of Mike and Rachel—”

“My father and I don’t agree on _much_ but we _both_ never approved of those unions. Traitors, I suppose you couldn’t go wrong with Terri. She’s smart enough.” Charlie frowns at this and looks up at the mirror. “Are you sure you want me to destroy your big ship now? I can think of a million more interesting games to play. I think I have a game where the chess pieces are ‘alive’ and they kill each other on the chessboard.”

“Cool.” Antonio grins, “But after we finish this game.”

“D5.” Charlie calls and Antonio gasps appropriately stunned.

“You’re amazing.”

“He’s a _cheater_.” Santana rolls her eyes and gestures behind Antonio.  “He’s catching the reflection of your pieces in the mirror.”

“That’s hardly cheating, He’s the one who decided to sit in front of a mirror,” Charlie responds waving his hand away. Luck wasn’t a skill, it was just calling out a series of numbers and letters until he hit something.

Antonio scrunched up his face after noticing the mirror and crossed his arms over his chest. “I win, you _cheated_.”

Charlie studies the boy for a moment before shrugging. “Okay you win. But you really shouldn’t sit in front of mirrors.” Charlie eyed Santana carefully for a moment. She had been less angry about potential explosions than she usually was. He frowns and pulls out a notebook that Rachel had given him and flips through it. “You look upset so—” Charlie squints at the page for a moment before looking at Santana. “Are you alright?”

“You’re teaching my six year old to be a cheater so _no_ I’m not alright.” Santana snaps even though she knows it’s not the real reason but it’s reason enough.

Charlie nods and glances back at the card again, pulling it a little closer to his face. “You’re still angry, so—Oh. I apologize for being insensitive.”

“Are those _cue_ cards?”

“Yes. Sometimes I need a little help being sensitive to other people’s feelings. At least Rachel says so, apparently telling the truth isn’t always the right answer, and I want you to feel—” Charlie flips through the book till he finds something that sounds right. “Satisfied working for me, so you don’t look for other employment.”

Santana stared at him, Russell had said that Charlie was stuck in his own head multiple times, but she had seen him show care in his own way. “Don’t do that, it’s _weird_.” Santana snatches the cards from his hands. There is only so much weird she can take from Charlie and pre-prepared apologies take the cake.

Charlie shrugged, “Rachel says I have this ability to stick my foot in my mouth, I’m not that flexible so I don’t quite see how that’s possible—” he looks up when Santana snorts at this statement. “She said I need those cue cards—”

“Look, I’m sure Rachel means well but this is _weird_ , and like you said people who smile when they’re not happy is weird to you. You saying pre-approved apologies when you don’t mean well that’s even weirder. I’m sure you’re going to do plenty of things that anger me, like teaching my son how to cheat or thinking at any time that explosions near my _six year old_ are appropriate. Do you understand.”

Antonio nudges Charlie’s knee when he doesn’t answer right away, he knew how to make his mom stop being mad. “Just say _yes_.”

Charlie flicks his eyes to Antonio for a moment, before nodding. “Yes,” he repeats still studying Santana who rolls her eyes and tosses his cue cards back at him.

~O~

Brittany sighed as she looked at her phone before placing it back down, “What a surprise, he didn’t show up _again_.”  It was always like this. Every single time they planned something, they would get Charlie to promise he would show up only to have them wait around like idiots. He didn’t even apologize. Really, they should have expected it.

“Are we forgetting who we’re talking about? It’s Charlie. He’s probably terrorizing his new assistant, or doing something that he thinks is amazing,” Quinn responds rolling her eyes. “You know we only invite him because mom says we have to.”

Rachel slaps her wife’s shoulder gently. “Be nice. If it weren’t for him, I never would have met _you_.”

“If he were _here_ and could avoid acting like some freak who has been locked in his bedroom his whole life, I would be even nicer.” Quinn retorts.

“Well, in Charlie’s defense he thinks you’re as smart as a goldfish, a very unimportant goldfish.” Brittany hums  in response watching as Quinn turned a deep red. “But he’s nice about it Quinn. He thinks you’re a smarter goldfish then everyone else.”

Quinn scowled, by anyone else’s standards she was a brilliant magician, but compared to Brittany and Charlie she was the idiot in the room. “He should say that to my face,” she mutters under her breath. “Can’t you— _fix_ him.”

“You know I can’t read his mind,” Brittany responds. “I read minds and it’s not so much fixing people as having general empathy. I mean, I guess I can talk to babies, since I can tell when it’s hungry or bored, but—”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re an empath. I get it.”

“Don’t be so annoyed.” Brittany shudders as her little sister’s emotions wash over her. “Tonight is supposed to be _fun_.”

“Well, he’s supposed to be here,” Quinn shakes her head. “You know mom’s going to be disappointed and somehow insist that we aren’t being inclusive when he’s the one who never shows up. I don’t even know what he’s doing, he’s absolutely useless without an assistant.”

“He has a crush on Santana,” Mike says speaking up for the first time and causing Quinn and Brittany’s head to whip towards him. “Well, that’s not true, he’s curious about Santana he’s been more _present_ lately if you know what I mean.  I’m not quite sure what that means, but I think he likes her.”

“You realize this is _Charlie_ you’re talking about.” Quinn dismisses.

“No, I absolutely agree.” Rachel insists emphatically. “I even made him helpful cards to assist him with interpersonal interactions and he _actually took them._ ”

“I don’t believe it.” Brittany shook her head. She knew Mike couldn’t lie to her, but that didn’t mean Charlie actually had feelings like a normal person.

“He gave Santana some of your mother’s secret remedy,” Mike adds. “Without me telling him to, or offering it. He just came out and handed  it to her, I mean that’s got to mean something right?”

“You were there when she got attacked by the boggart, did you get anything from him then?” Rachel presses Brittany.

“For the last time, I can’t read Charlie. His element more than others causes a feedback and it’s like white noise. It’s actually pretty comforting when I’m being overwhelmed,” Brittany reminds her.

“I always thought that you couldn’t read him because there was nothing to read,” Quinn shrugs when Rachel smacks her arm. “What, you asked the question a million times, you know how he is.”

“Well, how he is _now_ is he went to pick up Antonio on time from the bus stop when Santana was going to be late. I mean I’m not completely sure he understands that Antonio is a child and not a hairless dwarf, but still he did something helpful for Santana.”

“That means nothing. In fact, it almost makes sense.” Quinn shakes her head. “Charlie’s found a friend in a six year old. I don’t know why any of us are surprised.”

“True.” Brittany agrees. If Charlie was going to make a friend it would probably be a child. His last age-appropriate friend hadn’t turned out well for her brother.

“I’m telling you, Charlie likes her.” Mike disagrees. “I have never seen him try harder _not_ to be an asshole than he does with Santana.”

“Charlie doesn’t think he’s an asshole, if you ask him he thinks he’s a nice kind individual, who just doesn’t have time for the mundane,” Rachel reminds them. “He may be a genius but he scores very low on the emotional intelligence side. Even if he _does_ like her, he probably doesn’t know that he likes her.”

Brittany mulls over the suggestion, “Well, I say we leave it alone and just watch from afar. He’s _bound_ to make a mess of this and it’s probably going to be the funniest thing that we’ve ever seen. Even with a kid Santana is _way_ out of his league.”

“I second that plan,” Quinn smirks, it’ll serve Charlie right for constantly insulting her.


	11. Chapter 11

Terri bit her lip as she tried to come up with another question to test Santana. It had been two weeks of rigorous training and she had been trying to stump her for the last hour. Russell had been right to call her in, the prior training Santana had was dismal at best. But Santana had worked hard to soak up the information each day. “Next question, your magician is looking for an Estonian book on spells because he believes an infant has been put under a never-before-seen curse. Which one do you grab?”

Santana frowns and walks over to the defensive magic section of Charlie’s library and goes to grab one of the books. Thankfully, Terri hadn’t insisted she actually _learn_ old Estonian, but they had been practicing differentiating foreign languages on sight. She hesitates torn between the original blue book she had wanted to select and the one next to it that was slightly smaller with a green binding.

“Time’s up. Congratulations, you’ve killed the child.” Terri declares coldly. “Make a decision.”

Santana cringes but snatches her first choice. She _hates_ it when Terri does that because it doesn’t do anything to help her nerves. “This one.” She concludes with an air of confidence she doesn’t feel.

“Are you sure?”

No. She’s not. But second-guessing herself never gets her anywhere. “Yes.”

“Good. The baby’s still dead, but you managed to stop the curse which is also a plague from killing anyone else.”

“Yay.” Santana notes without enthusiasm. They’ve been at it for hours and she’s _exhausted_. Terri pauses and opens her mouth to ask another question only to be interrupted by the shrill ring of her cell phone. Santana frowns but goes to answer it right away, she normally has it on ‘Do Not Disturb’ and the only exception is Antonio’s school. “Hello?”

“Mrs. Lopez, this is Mrs. Fields, the principal of Line elementary, I’m calling about your son Antonio Lopez.”

“Is he alright? Has there been accident?” Santana gripped the counter tightly feeling her heart beginning to pick up speed as the panic set in.

“No, he’s fine. I’m calling you to come in there has been an incident, your son has been suspended for fighting with a girl in school. We’d like you to come in for a meeting and then pick him up.”

“Antonio would _never_ —”

“Mrs. Lopez, that’s why we asked for the meeting. I’ve called the girl's parents and they’ll be there soon.”

“Right, I’ll be right there.” Santana said hanging up and immediately turning to Terri. “I’ve got to go.”

Terri frowns but doesn’t say anything as Santana snatches her keys and speeds out of the shop. She’s been focused and attentive for each of their trainings and they had agreed that Santana would only leave if her child needed her. Deciding she had better things to do than wait around for Santana to return, Terri frowned and went in search of Charlie. She pulls the curtain back quietly only to see Charlie hard at work inscribing something into an ugly pair of glasses.

“How is she doing?” Charlie asks without looking up. This needed to be perfect if it was going to work.

Terri studied him for a moment, he was nothing like his father, _or_ his mother for that matter. She had changed his diapers, and he had always been a bit _odd_. “For someone who has been a mundane her entire life, she has a knack for picking things up. She needs to work on her confidence and more importantly I need to spend about a day making sure she understands what her role is. Assistants these days don’t actually understand, I got married to a magician—”

“You were married?”

Terri scowled and resisted the urge to smack him upside the head. “Yes Charlie, William? He was one of your professors. We’re divorced now, he decided to go for that _ginger_ bitch—.”

“You were trying to make a point,” Charlie interrupts already bored with how this conversation was going.

“The point is, I never decided to leave your father. What they don’t understand is that it looks just as bad on them as it does on you. Whatever happened to loyalty?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Charlie mutters and shakes his head. He needed to focus if he was going to get these right.  Creating new magic was always a pain and he wanted this to work the first time around.

“What are you working on?” Terri asks crinkling her nose, “By the way I ordered a new pair of glasses for you, though I have no idea why you haven’t asked your mom to fix your eyes yet.”

“Because I’ll still be pouring over all these books with tiny text on a day to day basis, because I have never had a decent assistant,” Charlie responds. “As for what I’m doing, both Mike and Rachel insist that once she passes her exam I give her something. A gift of appreciation.”

“That is customary.” Terri nods and looks again at the glasses in his hand. “However I don’t know why you’re giving her an _ugly_ pair of glasses that she’ll never wear.”

“Who cares if they’re ugly? They are _functional_.” Charlie grumbles. He was inventing some serious magic here and Terri should be able to see how valuable that was.

“Well as a woman, she probably cares—I still don’t know why you’re giving her magic glasses.”

“Santana has a strong second-sight, however I don’t think she knows how to control it, these glasses will give her the ability to control her gift if she ever wants to. Plus, I’m adding a few things that she probably needs as well.” Charlie adds grinning pleased with himself. He was a genius, someone needed to pat him on his back.

“ _Fine_ , you have a good reason but I’m still insisting that you’re going to need to get her something fashionable, not—whatever that is. I’ll pick some up for you.”

Charlie sighed, “ _Fine_ , I’ll probably just use these for my prototype.” He pulls the glasses up and holds them so he can inspect his work. “How long will it take you to make sure she has top marks? You mentioned confidence, she needs to have it.”

“The more comfortable she feels with the material the more confident she’ll feel, however we can’t know for certain until she gets it under her feet. You could have easily have taught her what she needed to know. You could pass the assistant’s exam in your sleep.” Terri points out.

“I don’t have the patience for teaching someone who is illiterate, why do you think I’ve started to expose her son to magic so early? Yes he’s easily amused but even though his father is a _mundane_ I imagine he’ll still have some decent magical affinity later on. Santana’s abilities are that strong.” Charlie frowns and runs his fingers along the runes.

“He’s _six_ , and as you said his father is a mundane he probably won’t start showing abilities till puberty. Not everyone has Fabray blood in them.” Terri rolls her eyes when Charlie merely grunts at her. “I was certain you _liked_ pending time around him.” Charlie doesn’t answer again and Terri sighs, deciding to lay some truth on him. “Just so you know, I doubt your interest in Santana is purely magical.”

“She’s going to be my assistant, of course it isn’t.” Charlie sighs and rubs his eyes.

“That’s not what I meant,” Terri shakes her head deciding to leave Charlie alone for now. She had known him since he was in diapers. He had always been a strange kid and his parents had worried about him. He didn’t make friends easily, and he spent most of his time reading magical books, not caring about the people around him. This behavior was out of Charlie’s norm, he had never shown an interest in people in general. The women that his parents tried to force on him were far too boring to mundane for him, despite the fact that they had all come from powerful families. She wasn’t sure if Charlie’s interest in Santana would wane but until that time, it was something to report back to Russell.

~O~

Santana glanced back at her son who was lagging behind her, his head down as if he hoped that it would save him from her disappointment. She had immediately defended her son, he had only been defending himself but that didn’t mean she wasn’t disappointed. She had just never yelled at her son in anger and even though she was angry, she didn’t even know where to begin to start unravelling this mess.

Antonio kicks a rock and doesn’t look up despite feeling his mom’s eyes on him. It wasn’t his fault. School was dumb anyway, they didn’t know anything about dragons or magic and she had started it. “Sorry,” he mumbles.

“Are you actually sorry Antonio? Or is it that you just don’t want me to punish you?” Santana asks, shaking her head.

Antonio glances around guiltily, “Both?”

“ _Tony_.”

“She pushed me first! I just pushed her back cause she was being mean! She’s been making fun of me and she thinks I’m weird.” Tony grumbles.

“You were talking about magic and _dragons_.” Santana reasons.

“Yeah because dragons are _cool_.”

Santana shakes her head, not willing to argue this point. But she refuses to let her son be some social outcast because she fell into this ridiculous world of magic.  “But just because she thinks they’re weird doesn’t give you license to push her.”

“She pushed me _first_!” Antonio insists. He had just been the one they caught. “And dragons and magic _are_ real. Mr. Charlie is a magician!”

“Mr. Charlie wouldn’t want you fighting.” Santana’s not above using Antonio’s new hero to get her point across. If she has to bash Charlie’s head in to get him to agree, then so be it. She opened the door to the store and watched as Antonio walked inside.

Antonio frowned at that, “Are you going to tell him?”

“Tell who?” Charlie asked, leaning over the counter curiously. He had been looking for his notepad and a pen. He could never find one whenever he needed one. Charlie paused and looked at Antonio and then Santana. “He’s back early.”

Santana sighed, it wasn’t something that she could hide. Charlie did have a general understanding of time, and in a few minutes he’d probably insist on going to one of the many restaurants around the shop. “Antonio got suspended.”

“ _Mom_!” Antonio whined shifting so he could hide himself from any more disappointed gazes.

Charlie nodded at this statement. “Okay.”

Santana twitched, of course he would brush it off like it was nothing. He had probably gotten suspended hundreds of times from his weird magical school and no one had really cared. “Charlie. Where is your notebook?” Charlie turned to her and she nods towards Antonio and then frowns at him. This wasn’t some joke to her. Antonio’s education was important and so was his behavior.

Charlie flicked his eyes to Antonio and then Santana and sighed closing a drawer, he had been working on creating an anchoring ward for one of his projects but it seemed that was going to have to wait because apparently this was important to Santana and it required some of his attention. “Why did the dwarf get suspended?”

“He got into a scuffle at school and shoved a girl to the ground. He was suspended for three days and I told him that you didn’t want him fighting. Right Charlie?”

Antonio huffed at this, “She started it! She pushed me and she said that magic wasn’t real and that you were a fake! And she made me mad!”

Charlie stared at Santana and Antonio for a moment, he had gotten into a billion fights with Quinn when he was Antonio’s age. No one had cared. Quinn liked freezing his pants and he had amused himself with turning Quinn into a giant ball of fluff every time he could. But judging from Santana’s expression he was supposed to tell Antonio that was wrong. “Did it make you feel good when you pushed her?”

“Huh?” Antonio asked confusion spreading on his face.

“Did pushing this girl make you feel good after you did it?” Charlie repeats the question slowly resting his head on his hands as he leans on the counter looking at Antonio who immediately shakes his head.

“No, I didn’t mean to hurt her—but she was saying that you were a fake and that magic wasn’t real.” Antonio insists.

“I see so you reacted?” Charlie asks and Antonio nods. “Well, what if I reacted every time I got angry at someone?”

“You’d hurt them really badly,” Antonio mumbles.

“I have hurt someone badly before it’s not a good feeling Antonio.” Antonio nods hanging onto Charlie’s every word. “Which is why violence is _never_ the answer, it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t believe you Antonio. She’s a mundane, she’s not part of the _secret_ club of magic. She’ll never get to see a dragon or a unicorn, but you Antonio, you do get to see all this stuff. And with that privilege comes a huge responsibility.”

Santana watches the explanation with interest. She had expected Charlie to disappoint her and rattle off something about how fighting was good for boys and instead had Antonio’s attention better than anyone she had ever seen. That may not mean much, since Antonio didn’t really take to other adults but it was almost enough to make her overlook some of Charlie’s weirder qualities.

Antonio nods, “I’m sorry,” he mumbles.

Charlie shrugs, “You didn’t hurt me Antonio. Just remember you can’t go around solving problems with violence. It generally makes things worse. Case in point your suspension. Now your mother is probably going to make  you muck out the griffin pens or something.”

Santana rolled her eyes, and he just had to ruin the moment with something weird. She sighs when Antonio looks at her, and she crinkles her nose. It probably sounded like a lot of fun to him but she wasn’t going to do it. “No, he’s not going to muck out a griffin pen. I have no intention of what happened to you happening to my son. However this suspension isn’t going to be a break for you. You’re not allowed to watch television or play any games, and you’re going to spend all your time doing homework and making sure you don’t fall behind.”

“ _But_ —”

“Antonio.” Santana arched a brow and he immediately fell silent and huffed. “I’m going to make you some lunch and then you’re going to sit here and do your homework while I learn. You aren’t allowed to disturb Charlie either when you get bored.”

Antonio huffed and stomped to his little corner where they had set up a small table for him and dumped his books onto it. It wasn’t _fair_. He was going to be so bored.

“Speaking of lunch—” Charlie’s stomach growled and he looked at Santana carefully. “Time for food, I’m going to go find some.”

Santana nods and eyes Antonio for a moment as Charlie makes his way to the doorway, she touches his arm before he leaves. “Thanks for that, and I’m sorry to drag you into it, but Antonio looks up to you.”

“He’s a dwarf he looks up to everyone,” Charlie responds with a shrug.

Santana rolls her eyes and is about to let him go when something he said causes her to pause, “Did you really hurt someone badly once?”

“Yes,” Charlie answers truthfully with another easy shrug. “But, I lied to him. I don’t feel bad about that all.”

She’s stunned and feels her jaw drop a little as a reflex. Of everything she expected, _that_ was not it. What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?

Charlie shrugs it off and nods once before turning on his heel and walking out the door to get some food. This whole lying business made him hungry.

 


	12. Chapter 12

Santana frowned as she stared at the different wards that Terri was testing her on, this was much harder than anything else she had needed to do. A single line could mean the difference between life and death for a wizard. “Not that I’m not grateful for all the help that you’ve been giving me but I thought I’d be ready to write my exam by now. I don’t know why you’re adding a few more weeks of training, I thought I was doing rather well.”

“You would pass, and that isn’t a protection ward, it’s a barrier ward—” Terri rolled her eyes and moved onto another picture of a ward. “ _That_ is a protection ward.”

“Oh.” Santana turned her head to the side. There was a difference, it was slight but she could see it.

Terri smirks, other training assistants wouldn’t be able to come close to differentiating wards after just a few weeks. “If you were going to be the assistant of any regular magician, I’d totally agree that you are more than ready. But you’re about to start working with a _Fabray_ and not just any Fabray but arguably the best in the family. You will pass the exam, but you need to be a top assistant in order to put up with Charlie.”

“Managing Charlie isn’t difficult, I mean yeah sometimes he misses the obvious and he acts like he doesn’t care but—” Santana glances at Antonio who is reading a book with his dragon curled up on his stomach sleeping. “He surprises you sometimes. Antonio already wrote an apology note to the girl he pushed because Charlie talked to him.” Santana turns back to Terri who is staring at her. “What?”

“Nothing—it’s just I haven’t seen Charlie this grounded and present in a long time is all, and I changed his diapers.” Terri comments.

Santana crinkles her nose, she glances at her son once again but he’s not paying attention and Charlie had left the store earlier this morning she drops her voice significantly. “Actually he said something that stood out to me yesterday, and I’m not sure if he was joking or not.”

“What was that?” Terri asked. Charlie made comments all the time that people dismissed as him just joking. Most of the time he was serious.

“He said he got into a fight where he really hurt someone.” Santana admits, watching Terri closely for a hint of deception.

“Oh.”

“When he talked to Antonio he said he regretted it, but later he admitted that he didn’t.” Santana continues. She wasn’t sure what she expected from Terri, but certainly more than a blank stone expression.

Terri weighs her options carefully, “I’m sure he was just talking about his job.” It was the simplest explanation she could give.

Santana frowned, that would make sense if she actually knew what Charlie did. Brittany worked in a magical zoo, Quinn was in government whatever that meant and Charlie—well Charlie was just weird and spent a lot of time holed up in that damn hole in the wall. “I don’t actually know what Charlie’s job is—honestly I thought he runs a shop of well antiquities. Rachel and Mike keep referring to him as jack of all trades—but that’s not actually a job. Charlie’s never actually tells me what he does, he just says he’s a magician.”

Terri blinked, it was quite possible that Mike and Rachel were unsure of what Charlie actually did either. Then again it was also possible that Charlie himself didn’t know how to say it. “Officially he’s a consultant.”

“And unofficially?” Santana pressed.

“He’s the guy you hire when you need something done without a trace back to you.”

“You mean he’s a _mercenary_?” She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.

“Charlie and Quinn’s discipline unfortunately has pure combat capabilities. While Quinn chose to stick closely with government law enforcement, Charlie was never one to follow traditional paths. It really makes the most sense when you think about it.”

“Combat capabilities?” Santana blinks.

Terri put down the cards that she had been using, “You don’t even know what Charlie’s discipline is?”

“It’s not exactly as though anyone has sat me down to explain any of this.” Santana defends herself.

Terri rolls her eyes. It figures that Mike and Rachel hadn’t even started off Santana’s magical education with the basics. “I thought you had already covered that with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Loudmouth.”

Santana picks up her pen, ready to start taking copious notes.

“There are several disciplines, and every _good_ magician has an area of emphasis where they excel. It may not correspond exactly to what they _practice_ , but there are six major disciplines: psychics like Brittany; illusionists; natural magicians who deal mostly in biology; healers like Judy; theoretical magicians like Russell; and physical magic like Charlie and Quinn. Though Charlie is gifted in theoretical magic.”

“I thought all magic was physical?”

“Physical magic allows the practitioner to mold, modify, or utilize the surrounding elements. It’s why physical magicians are so often called combat magicians.” Terri explained, “I’m sure you’ve seen it. Lightning? Or felt it. A drop in the room temperature when Quinn gets annoyed?”

Santana thought back for a moment, he had used lightning against the boggart, “I’ve seen him shoot lightning from his hands before once.”

“It used to be problematic when he was a child power outages all the time, but I imagine he’s gotten it under control.” Terri explains. “His discipline in its rawest form is combat magic. And a lot of his house calls, and the reason he takes so many trips is because he is doing things that require— _force_. Getting basilisk egg, is no easy feat let alone taking on a manticore. Sometimes there are problems that only pure combat magic can solve. Though if we’re being honest, his heart and most of his attention goes to the theory of magic, he’s exceptionally picky about the cases he takes that require his particular brand of brute force.”

Santana nods, that made sense a manticore getting on the loose was bad for _everyone_ mundanes and magicians. Capturing beasts for Brittany’s zoo also seemed to be something physical in nature. “So it’s not like he gets deployed to take out villages or like some black ops mission that makes him dangerous right?”

Terri shrugged, “As far as I know Charlie doesn’t have people who are out to get him like some lame comic book villain. No, he really does a bit of everything. He’s probably gone to get some more dwarven beer for his father. If you want to know though, then _ask_ him. I’m not his assistant _you_ are.”

“So you mean to tell me that you know _everything_ about Charlie’s father?”

“Not now, but Russell hasn’t practiced in years.” Terri retorts almost defensively. What type of assistant did Santana take her for? She may not know every single aspect of Russell’s life _now_ but that was mostly because all he did now was boring transactions where money changed hands. She took a deep breath, stifling her own annoyance. Santana was still new to this and she wasn’t going to let that cloud her judgment. “He may not be practicing anymore, but I make sure to stay in the loop of his business ventures.”

Santana frowned maybe she should pay a bit more attention to what Charlie was up too. He had made a point once that her ignorance of facts could lead to her being in danger or assuming she was in danger when she wasn’t. Her frown deepens at the realization that Terri had completely side-stepped her original question. “But he _has_ hurt people before?”

“Not _people_ ,” Terri corrects evasively. She’s not sure there’s a person alive who would criticize Charlie’s actions, but she shouldn’t be the person to tell Santana the story, “ _One_ person. And again, you really should ask Charlie, because I don’t know the facts. I’m not even sure Russell knows the facts.”

Antonio shifts in the corner and it’s enough to remind Santana that little ears may be listening. “So I’ve noticed Charlie drawing something similar to that, but his look different.”

“That’s probably because Charlie makes his own custom wards and he sells a few as well. The one’s I’m showing you are the ones you learn in school but ward crafting is tricky, and the Fabray children used to—and by that I mean Charlie and Brittany used to break through them all the time whenever they wanted something. Their mother put wards on the snacks so they couldn’t spoil their supper, which really only served to incentivize them to break through so they could get what they wanted. Quinn was always weak when it came to wards, don’t know why.” Terri shrugged. “She’s probably as bad at them as you are.”

Santana rolled her eyes of course Terri would think that, but it did please her to know that they weren’t all perfect. “Charlie’s terrible at transformation magic right?”

“Illusions as well, he can do simple ones but complex spells are not his strength. So when he gets the bright idea to transform himself into an animal?”

“I tell him that it’s a bad idea?”

“See you’re learning.”

~O~

Santana sighed as she traced the ward again, trying to make sure that every line was perfect. She had never been one for art, and this was more difficult than she’d care to admit. But Terri was going to test her attempts tomorrow and she really didn’t want anything blowing up in her face. She sighed and rubbed her eyes she’d get more done once she got Antonio to bed. He’d actually spent the whole day reading the book that Charlie had given and attempting to train his dragon to no real avail. She personally thought that the dragon was amused by Antonio’s efforts and really just wanted the damn dragon snacks. Maybe when she passed this stupid exam, she’d give it a try. She had to be better at it than her son. She watches her son quietly as he sounds out the words to himself. He had never been a strong reader and he had hated reading by himself but with one book Charlie had changed all that. Of course now all he read was books about dragons and dwarves and elves, but it was a start.

“Mom?” Antonio asked finally giving up when Spot’s tail smacks his hand causing him to rub it. She didn’t like having her tail grabbed but sometimes it was the only way to get her attention. “Where’s Mr. Charlie? I need more dragon treats.”

Santana pauses for a moment as she glances around, he was right. Charlie had been gone all day, she hadn’t even seen him in the morning. She frowns, Terri had left hours ago, which meant that she had been in the shop unsupervised for _hours_. And nothing had happened. Nothing had attacked her, nothing had blown up in her face. No boggart attacks, no strange creatures had appeared. Nothing _weird_ had happened. She glances back at the curtained off area that was Charlie’s work space, usually there was noise or she could hear Charlie muttering about something or rather but it was all rather quiet. She’s tempted to look, but if Charlie’s idea of cleaning up was throwing a blanket over something she wasn’t going to even begin to deal with the mess he kept his workshop. “I don’t actually know.”

Antonio frowned and stared at the black curtain for a long moment before turning to Spot. “Go get the dragon treats,” he orders. He had no intention of heading to the back room without Mr. Charlie to make sure it was safe. Spot stared at him for a moment and then blew a ring of smoke at him before curling up on the ground. “ _Come on_ you can do it.”

Santana watched as Antonio’s dragon ignored him and bit her lip trying not to snort in amusement. The dragon was growing on her, Charlie had clearly summoned a dragon with a bit of sass, and watching Antonio run around trying to appease it was both worrying and amusing at the same time. “We can just wait for Charlie to come back alright?”

Antonio puffs out his cheeks in disappointment. He had gone through all his dragon treats, though he was sure that Spot was getting into the container somehow. “What’s taking him so long? He’s always here. You’re his assistant shouldn’t you know where he is?”

Santana flicked her son’s forehead, “Stop, you’re reminding me of Terri and that’s the last thing I need right now. You know he goes to weird places and he doesn’t tell me anything. I don’t know where he is right now. For all I know, he could be on the moon or you know—doing something completely normal. Like visiting his mother.”

“That doesn’t sound like fun,” Antonio mutters under his breath.

Santana scowled at her son, “You mean to tell me that when you’re an old man like Charlie is you’ll never visit me again?”

“No?” Antonio flashed his mom a smile. “I’m never going to leave you alone.”

“That doesn’t fill me with confidence,” Santana admits shaking her head as she begins to pack up her things. She wasn’t sure if she’d be ready for Antonio to go off to university and only visit her on holidays. She wanted him to be independent, she didn’t want him living with her when he was forty in some weird codependent way. She can’t help but smile when Antonio flashes her his most charming smile, she sighs he was probably going to be a heartbreaker when he was older.

The bell above the door rang, and Santana turned to look at who had entered the store, but the smell hit her first and she gagged immediately covering her nose as she fought the urge to hurl. There standing at the door seemingly oblivious to the smell was Charlie who was covered in a blue mucus-like goop and seemingly oblivious to the fact that he smelled like he’d been attacked by an army of skunks as he read a folder “I’m certainly not going to take that job,” Charlie muttered mostly to himself as he flipped the page.

“Mr. Charlie you _stink_!” Antonio informed him bluntly as he took a few steps back to try and get away from the stench. It was the plain honesty of a child and he watched as Spot turned to Charlie and hissed at him as she covered her nostrils as best as she could.

Charlie blinked twice and turned to the people in his shop, noting that they were all covering their noses. He lifts his arm and takes a whiff crinkling his nose and making a face. “Well, that certainly explains why I couldn’t get a cab home. It also explains why everyone was giving me all those mean looks on the street before they moved to the opposite sidewalk. Interesting.” He comments in a tone that suggests that it’s hardly that interesting to him.

Santana grimaces as she dry-heaves again. Rot, he smells like rot and raw sewage. Her eyes water as she takes a step near him and she immediately gives up on that idea instead deciding to follow the example her son set and she takes a few steps away from him. “What the _hell_ did you do today and—no you know what? Strip out of those damn clothes and go scrub yourself until you don’t smell like whatever it is that did _that to you_.”

Charlie sighs and begins to unbutton his shirt as he continued to read his documents. “Fine, but I’ll need these clothes by the end of the week—” He pulls off his shirt unphased by the fact that he’s doing it in front of Santana and her child, let alone any passerby.

“No, the only place those clothes are going is in a black bag, where they will be promptly thrown out. I’d say that they’d need to be burned but I’m sure it’ll smell worse than it already does.” Santana insists, she knew that he said that it was part of her duties to make sure that his clothes were slime free but there had to be a line. There was no way that she was going to touch those clothes with a twenty-foot pole. Even that didn’t seem like it was enough space. “And—what are you doing?” Santana demands as Charlie kicks off his shoes and begins to work on unbuttoning his pants. She was surprised, under all his baggy clothes and given all the food he ate he was actually in rather decent shape.

Charlie stares at Santana as if she’s lost her mind. “Didn’t you just tell me to strip out of my clothes?”

Santana stared at Charlie, “And you’re just planning to strip in here? In front of my son and me? You don’t see how that’s _improper_?”

“Of course I wasn’t going to get naked in front of you. I do know what sexual harassment is. Rachel made me take a class about it. Apparently making snide comments about her dating life was improper. She was dating my sister, I feel I was perfectly justified.” Santana stared at him and he sighed.  “Would you rather I bring this smell onto our floor?” Charlie challenges.

Santana opened her mouth and then closed it, he had a valid point. “You’re right, I’d rather not have you upstairs stinking up both our apartments. Can’t you just wave your hand and get the stink off you?”

Charlie sniffed in indignation, immediately regretting that as he was hit with the foul odor. “I’m a _magician_ not a demi-god, there are limits to my magic and—”

“You were never any good at cleaning spells, got it.” Santana finishes for him watching as he turned a deep red. “Okay, I’ve trained for this.”

“Really?” Antonio asks suddenly more interested in his mother than he was with Charlie. “Can I help? What are we supposed to do?” He glances at Charlie and leans closer to his mom. “It’ll be like giving Spot a _bath_ ,” he whispers and takes a step away from Spot who hisses at him.

Santana snorted at the comment as Charlie made a face, “Well first we need to figure out what that slime is. Then we can work from there.” She glances at Charlie expectantly.

“Hmm? Oh this is Mongolian Death Worm slime,” Charlie explains picking at the goop on his arm with his fingers. He turns to Antonio, “You know they shoot lightning from their butt right?”

“Really?” Antonio asks his eyes widening. “That’s _so cool_. Did you take a picture?”

“Of course not, I was busy attempting to not get myself killed,” Charlie makes a face. “I imagine Brittany will be disappointed she wanted me to bring that thing back alive. Frankly if she wants one alive then she can do it herself without my help. It’s far too dangerous to put in a zoo even with a thousand wards.”

Santana frowned, “Are you _sure_ it was a Mongolian Death Worm? I didn’t know that they were covered in blue slime. There also wasn’t any mention of a stench, not like that in any of the books.”

“That’s because they’re endangered, no one really sees them anymore. But you’re right, while they are covered in a mucus like substance this goo isn’t from its skin, well some of it is. The blue slime and probably the source of the smell comes from its stomach content—”

“Did you get eaten? Like in the movies?”

“No—of course not. I caused the damn thing to explode and—what type of movies have you been watching? I think being swallowed alive would—” Charlie asks turning to Antonio.

“ _Focus_.” Santana snapped her fingers causing Charlie to turn his attention back to her. He was watching her, and she could immediately feel herself being judged, this was probably some test that he had conjured up to see how far she had come. She swallows wracking her brain for what to do in this situation. “Well if you got slimed by a death worm, the mucus is probably going to leave a nasty rash if you don’t apply the balm.” Santana glanced around. “You wouldn’t happen to have it laying around would you?”

“No, but I imagine my mother knows the ingredients to whip up a batch. However, if you remember, I informed you that the smell and the blue slime do _not_ come from the death worm’s slimy exterior but rather from it’s stomach contents.” Charlie reminded her.

Santana let out a frustrated growl and looked over at the bookshelves which were past Charlie before turning back to him. “Look, I can’t get to the bookshelf unless I come near you, and if I come near you then I’m sure I’m going to hurl—”

“It’s not in the books, well not quite,” Charlie interrupts. “I’m sure you can memorize just fine, but you need to take the next step and put the information that you know together. What does a death worm eat? And what magical properties does it have?”

Santana frowned, thinking back. “Things found in the soil, there’s nothing remarkable about what they eat, or how they digest. In fact—despite the name they are rather peaceful creatures unless agitated.”

“Yes well, I’m sure it was a perfectly nice death worm however this is _not_ its native environment and our ecosystem is fragile without adding death worms to the mix. Not to mention if it gets agitated in this populated city the results would be _catastrophic_.” Charlie grumbled.

Santana frowned, “There are no magical properties involved which means—”

“That I can use a mixture, of coconut oil, vegetable shortening, lye and distilled water, and whatever scent I so choose.”

“ _Soap_? You can wash this off with soap?”

“I imagine so, I’ve never been sprayed with the stomach contents of a death worm before. It was quite the adventure, and mostly Quinn’s fault.” Charlie shrugged.

“Soap is wonderful, but that smell Charlie, it’s not going to wipe that away. If it’s anything like a skunk, Tony and I will pick up a few cans of pureed tomatoes for you to bathe in before you head upstairs. Hopefully that will neutralize the smell.” She would also bring back a _bucket_ , he probably needed a bucket of sorts to bathe himself in and a few towels and something to scrub the slime off his body. “Come on Tony let’s go get some supplies so Charlie can get himself clean.

“But _mom_ , I wanna hear about how Mr. Charlie fought the death worm!” Tony protests immediately.

Santana looked at her son, “Do you _really_ want to stay in here while he smells like this?” Santana pointed out.

Antonio made a face, his mother made a very valid point. “Will you tell me the story when you don’t smell really bad?”

Charlie shrugged and nodded. It was hardly an action filled day, he had spent most of the day running away and complaining about how Quinn was a menace. There had been failed attempts to catch the thing but it was exceptionally difficult to draw wards while you were running for your life. “I suppose so, but it’s hardly that interesting.”

“Alright,” Antonio said moving towards his mom and grabbing her arm. “Let’s hurry.” He stops when he realizes that they need to get past Charlie to go through the door. “Uh—”

Charlie shook his head and moved to the opposite end of the store for them, taking a seat on the ground and crossing his long legs. Terri was right, Santana was learning at a rapid pace. It was such a shame that she had grown up to be a mundane, she could have been a powerful Magician in her own right of that he had no doubt.


	13. Chapter 13

Charlie held out his hands, each one balled into a fist for Antonio to try to pick where the coin was. He had no idea what was taking Santana so long, he had _seen_ the Assistant’s exam before and it certainly wasn’t hard despite what Rachel insisted. He watched as Antonio’s face scrunched up and he studied Charlie’s hands carefully. “For a dwarf you’re really bad at this game.”

Antonio made a face and tapped Charlie’s right hand. “That one. It’s not fair you’re probably using _magic_.”

“You never said I couldn’t,” Charlie responds flatly rotating his hand and opening his palm. “Wrong again.”

“It’s in your pocket then!”

“Which one?”

Antonio frowns. “If I tell you then you’ll just move it to another one.”

“It’s not in my pockets,” Charlie informs him after a moment. His eyes sweep over Antonio and he tilts his head. “You _really_ can’t see it?”

“Charlie—” Judy scolds softly, “he’s just a child.” She’s not unaware of what Charlie’s trying to do but it’s more than likely that if Antonio has magical abilities at all, they won’t manifest until he’s much older.

But Antonio screws up his face trying to figure out where the coin could have gone. If it wasn’t in Charlie’s hands and it wasn’t in his pocket—a brief glimmer flashed in Charlie’s outstretched palm, it was followed by a blinding pain in his head right behind his eyes and he immediately closed them. “Ow, _brain freeze_.”

Charlie smirks and removes the rest of the cloaking spell that Antonio had seen through, if only for a moment. It had answered the question that he had been curious about, and for a split second he had forced open Antonio’s third eye. His magic was still growing, but he _had it_.

Judy rushes to Antonio’s side, glaring at Charlie. She nods at Quinn who slaps Charlie upside the head. “Charles, there are _reasons_ that we allow children to grow into it, and we try and prevent them from expressing their magic. One of the reasons is that they end up like the three of you.”

“I have magic?” Antonio blinks grinning wildly looking at Charlie for confirmation. This was the best news that he had ever heard.

“No.” Rachel interjects before Charlie can tell Antonio the truth. From what she had learned from Judy, all three of her children were _terrors_. Magic wasn’t a toy and Antonio’s body was a good indicator that he simply wasn’t ready to start magic.

Despite Rachel’s words, Charlie nods quickly and Antonio jumps up excitedly. “ _Cool_. Can you start—”

“No.” Charlie interrupts bluntly.

Antonio frowns, “But—”

“Antonio, listen to me. Magic isn’t a _toy_ , and you’re far too short to be using it. Your body simply isn’t ready and before you decide to prove me wrong. That sharp pain you felt in your head that was your body informing you that it’s not ready. If you start using magic now there’s a chance that you might seriously injure yourself, and more importantly there’s a chance that you may destroy your ability to use magic.” Charlie’s tone was firm as he studied Antonio.

Antonio scowled and looked down for a moment, “You said you had magic when you were my age.”

“Both my parents are magician’s Antonio. I was born with all the pathways fully developed. However, at best only one of your parents has magic and while it’s not impossible—it does mean that you need to grow into your power.”

“Oh,” Antonio scratched his head and made a face. He brightens after a moment, “Once I’m old enough will you teach me magic?”

“No,” Charlie responds again and blinks when Antonio makes another face. “You’ll have to go to a proper school of magic for that. I doubt your mother will allow me anywhere near you when you’re attempting to learn.”

“But you’ll teach me how to blow stuff up?” Antonio asks hopefully. “When I’m old enough?”

Charlie hesitates and it’s long enough that Quinn elbows him in the gut. “ _No._ ” Quinn, Rachel and Judy answer for him. Magical explosives were dangerous, especially for an underage magician.

Antonio frowns, and he’s not sure who looks more disappointed, Charlie or himself.

“Right. _No_.” Charlie winks at Antonio. What his mother and former assistant didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Plus there were plenty of non-harmful uses for exploding things.

Quinn rolls her eyes. If Charlie thought he was subtle, she wasn’t sure how he managed to stay alive this long. “Are you sure you want Charlie to be the one to teach you—”

“Well, he certainly doesn’t want you,” Charlie interrupts. “I’d like him to understand how to make a _proper_ wards and sigils.”

“I was going to suggest Brittany,” Quinn snaps tersely, he would never ever let her live it down that wards were not her strength. If they weren’t in front of her parents and a child she would put him through the wall.

“He doesn’t want to get eaten by gryphons,” Charlie insists.

“Lord Tubbington just doesn’t like you.” Brittany informs him before looking at Antonio. “Unlike Charlie, I can teach you how to ride and train dragons.”  

Antonio blinked and grinned, “Really?”

“Really and you don’t even need magic,” Brittany insists. It certainly helped especially when it came to corralling them, but you didn’t _need_ magic to do basic stuff like flying.

“Really?”

Charlie frowned deeply placing a hand on Antonio’s shoulder. His sister’s had a nasty habit of taking what belonged to him. His spell books, his homework, his toys, his food, his assistants, and that was only a few examples of a litany of things that they had taken from him. It was almost enough to—Charlie pauses for a moment before letting go of Antonio’s shoulder, and looked at Antonio for a moment studying him. Antonio was a _dwarf_ , which meant that he didn’t really belong to anyone but Santana. He was _her_ dwarf. Which meant that he could simply go to her to make sure that Antonio had absolutely nothing to do with his sisters.

Russell studied his son, watching his interaction with Santana’s son carefully. The first thing that he had noted was that Antonio was always within arm’s reach of his son, and Charlie didn’t seem to mind that his personal space was being invaded. Nor did he seem impatient when dealing with Antonio. His son seemed eerily alert to his surroundings for once. It was _interesting_ and peculiar. Though if he was being honest with himself it made sense that Charlie would make friends with a child. Terry had _suggested_ that he pay attention to how Charlie interacted with Santana. Normally he’d be against Charlie being with an assistant, all of his children seemed taken with their assistant’s but at this point he just needed his son to be with _someone_. “Charles?”

Charlie tilted his head toward his father, “I forgot to bring your package. I’ll have Santana drop it off when she has time.”

“Package—are you still drinking _dwarven mead_?” Judy whips her head to her husband.

“Of course not.” Charlie responds for his father. “It’s dwarven ale.”

Russell winced when his wife glared but held up his finger, they’d have this argument later. “What’s in your pocket? It’s about to fall.” His words are enough to get his wife to turn to Charlie, her irritation forgotten as she focused on the red wrapped gift that threatened to fall out of his jacket pocket.

Charlie fumbles, shoving the package deeper into his jacket. “It’s nothing.” Russell is stunned when a light blush dusts Charlie’s cheeks.

“It was wrapped.” Judy disagrees. Charlie didn’t normally go to the effort of wrapping Christmas presents and she had just conceded that he probably didn’t care about the normal social convention.

But Brittany is never one to pass up on an opportunity to tease her brother. “Was it a _gift_?” She grins broadly, “Did you get it for Santana?”

Charlie frowns for a moment, there is no point in hiding it, and his genius did need to be applauded. “Yes.”

Rachel frowns, “And you got this for Santana because she’s going to be your new assistant?”

“Yes,” Charlie responded again, deciding to simply use one-syllable answers.

Rachel puffs out her cheeks and looks over at Mike who simply shrugs, “I see, you never gave Mike or myself a _gift_ when we came to work for you. What’s so—”

“I did give you a gift,” Charlie interrupts frowning.

Rachel pauses thinking back, Charlie had only paid her on time, which was something he was _supposed_ to do. He had never even once bought her lunch, because as far as he was concerned she only ate rabbit food.  “I can’t remember you giving me a gift.”

“You were working with me. What more could you ask for?” Charlie sniffed indignantly. Santana had grown up as a mundane, she had _no_ idea that he was someone important and it was customary to give people presents when they graduated.

Rachel’s jaw dropped and she was sure she heard Quinn snort in amusement. “ _Don’t_ encourage him!”

The door to the examination room opens and the people sitting for the test file out, each one being handed a flat nickel coin on their exit. It’s a few minutes before Santana shuffles out, her eyes wide and dazed as she takes the coin from the proctor.

“Mom!” Antonio weaves through the other people and grabs her hand, leading her through the swells of people to where Charlie and his family were waiting. “How did you do?”

She frowns, flipping the blank coin over in her hands. “I probably won’t know for a while. I think I did well but with all those people it will probably be a while before we have the results.”

“How long?” Antonio looks up to Charlie for the answer because Charlie knows _everything_.

“Hmm—” Charlie scratches his chin. “There were what, sixty or so people sitting for the test?”

“Yeah, so it will take a couple of months?” Santana guessed.

“For the full results, maybe a week? They won’t bother grading the exams that didn’t pass.” Charlie guessed. “But you should get the results of whether you passed any second now.”

“I’m sure you did well.” Rachel assures. “Not as well as I did, of course.”

“Any second? How do they—” Santana blinked and rubbed her eyes, the questions had been rather easy as far as she was concerned, but this basic algebra, she wasn’t sure if she had gotten the answers correct. “Never mind, you’re going to say—”

“ _Magic!_ ” Brittany says cheerfully. “Just wait for a second. Letting the participants know this early gives them time to prepare again, in case they failed, while it allows the people who passed to start the process to become unionized assistants. Also this is when the magicians start jockeying for their new assistants.”

“But you already have a job and you’re not joining the union,” Charlie insists before Brittany can put that idea into Santana’s head.

Rachel frowned ever so slightly, “Santana, you can do whatever is you want. Despite what Charlie may say, unions are _not_ the villainous organization that he wants them to be. In fact, as you’ll remember from our discussions of magical history, it was only once the unions were in place that magicians stopped their magical testing on assistants—”

Santana turned to Charlie, “Remember our deal? No explosions, no doing magic on me and I can say no to any idea I find problematic?”

“Yeah,” Charlie nods.

Santana studies him for a moment, “And you’ll respect me saying no?” She’s rewarded with a simple shrug from him and she shakes her head. It was probably the best she was going to get out of him. “I don’t think I need a union, thanks though, Rachel.”

Rachel huffed and looked at Mike hoping that he would jump in. Charlie was exactly the type of magician that made it _necessary_ for assistant’s to be unionized. At least when Santana realized this she could still enter the union. “The union is open for you whenever you decide that you can’t handle—that.” She waves her hands at Charlie.

Santana was about to respond when she feels the coin in her hand heating up, she winces as she drops it. “Ow, what the hell!”

“Test results.” Quinn explains, folding her arms over her chest as Charlie picks up the coin. “The coin will turn to silver if you pass, lead if you fail. Though a few years ago they started printing _‘Congratulations’_ and _‘Try Again’_ as well since _someone_ thought she failed and—”

“In my _defense_ lead and silver look awfully similar.” Rachel interrupts, frowning at her wife and daring her to continue. “Anyone could have made that mistake—”

“You _passed._ ” Charlie grins proudly, handing Santana the coin. “I knew you would even with Rachel and Mike interfering.”

“I passed?” Santana blinked staring at the silver coin. “You’re serious? I passed just like that?” A grin crosses her face, it’s silly, she was sure her GED was _harder_ than the stupid exam but she still felt that same _elation_ , when she had found out that she had passed the exam. It’s an involuntary reaction, hugging Charlie though as she feels him stiffen with her touch for a second.

“YOU PASSED!” Antonio shouted launching himself at both his mom and Charlie hugging them both and keeping them together. “Awesome! What now?”

Charlie patted Santana on the back awkwardly, he was aware that every member of his family was staring at him and possibly judging him but his family was odd, and judgmental and they stole things from him. “Congratulations, I had absolute faith in you once Terry took over.”

Santana immediately lets go, flushing a bit. “I should send her something—”

“She’s partial to aged dwarven ale, or some jewelry from the dwarven mines.” Russell spoke up and shrugged his shoulders when Judy raised a brow at him. It would give Charlie something to do. “Now, Charles why don’t you give Santana the gift you got for her?”

“A gift?” Santana raises her brow and holds out her hand expectantly. She hadn’t anticipated Charlie giving her a gift but she wasn’t one to turn down free bling—or whatever the magical equivalent of bling was. “Your dad’s right, hand it over.”

Charlie scowls and fishes the gift out of his pocket. He ignores Quinn’s smirk at his attempts at wrapping and simply places it in Santana’s hand. “I made it for you. It for now is one of a kind.”

Santana eyes it carefully, before shaking it, “It won’t explode will it?”

“No. It shouldn’t,” Charlie responds scratching his cheek. He wasn’t quite sure if it would work for Santana, her gifts were rare but he hoped that the spell had worked.

Santana flicks her eyes at him, as she feels Antonio pulling on her arm to see what it is. She unwraps it carefully and pauses at the glasses case in her hands. “You got me sunglasses?”

“No. _Glasses_.” Charlie corrects as Santana pops the top open.

“ _Boring!_ ” Brittany comments shaking her head. She had bet Mike that Charlie had gotten her jewelry. But perhaps she was putting far too much faith in her brother. “Come on Chuck, you should have given her _jewelry_ or something right Quinn?”

“Yeah, I mean does she even _need_ glasses?”

“ _Girls_ , I’m sure Charlie has a reason—” Judy interrupted watching the events unfold. She couldn’t think of anything, but she needed to have some hope that her son wasn’t completely hopeless.

“I have perfect vision Charlie—”

“And no control over your second sight, or your Mexican third eye, or whatever you call it. I added some features,” Charlie adds ignoring everyone else as he motions for Santana to slip on the glasses and pulls his own silver coin out of his pocket. He moves his hands behind his back, before bringing them up so Santana could choose a hand.

Santana sighs and does as she’s asked, she hadn’t known what she had expected but this wasn’t _it_. He holds his hand out and she picks the one that’s clearly holding a mid-sized silver coin. “What is the point of this?” She asks when she sees the coin in his hand.

“Take off your glasses.” Charlie beams. He wasn’t sure why he ever doubted himself. Of course it was going to work.  

Rolling her eyes, she complies again. “I don’t see what—” She stops mid-sentence when the coin in Charlie’s palm disappears completely only to flicker back into sight momentarily before disappearing again. “What the hell is that?”

“It worked. Of course it did, I spent days making sure that the runes were correct,” Charlie mutters. There were times when he surprised himself of course, but this wasn’t magic that had ever been done before. Tapping into someone’s powers like that, he could change magic all together if he truly wanted to. “I modified the glasses, so that it would help you see with your Mexican eye without you struggling with it. You’ll be able to see through illusions amongst other things.” Charlie nudges Antonio. “Go on, tell your mother a lie.” Charlie said when Santana put the glasses back on.

“Spot ate all the cookies.” Antonio tries.

Santana blinks, she can’t explain but it’s like a red aura or something appears around Antonio for a moment before disappearing. “I know you’re lying Antonio, so be truthful. Did you eat all the cookies?”

Antonio hesitated for a moment and bit his lip. He had gone over this with Mr. Charlie even though he didn’t quite understand what was going on. “I did.”

Santana blinks, there it was again. “You’re lying—Antonio—”

“I ate them,” Charlie steps in. “ _Obviously._ Don’t be mad at him, I needed to see if it actually worked, and since you can never tell if I’m joking or not, I figured use the dwarf for the practice test. Good job Antonio.”

“Wait—you mean I can’t fib anymore without my mom knowing?” Antonio asked looking at Charlie aghast.

Santana pulled the glasses off, “You couldn’t fib and get away with it to begin with, Mexican third-eye remember?”

“It’s not _full_ proof,” Charlie informed her. “If Antonio thinks he’s telling the truth then it won’t register, but I’d say you’re about eighty percent accurate.”

Russell was the first to move forward as Santana pulled off the glasses, “You _made_ these?” He’s not sure why he’s surprised, Charlie’s fairly gifted and always liked tinkering around with things but these don’t look anything like the weirdly mismatched trinkets he used to come up with.

“Yes. They don’t _create_ a magical ability, but they do focus Santana’s latent powers.”

“How long would it take you to make me a pair?”

“I want one too.” Quinn speaks up. As long as they’re making requests maybe she can actually get something useful out of her twin brother for a change.

“I don’t know what good it will do either of you.” Charlie dismisses. Neither Quinn nor his father have any sort of powers like Santana’s. But if they’re insistent maybe he can make a duplicate. It would be easier than trying to get another bottle of dwarven ale. “You _both_ can make orders at the shop starting next week, in time for the grand re-opening.”

“You never closed.” Brittany points out, unimpressed.

“The shop’s closed _now._ ” Charlie retorts.

Brittany rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Yes, well I imagine it will take Santana a week or so to get the shop all cleaned up.”

Santana scowls. “I am _not_ your mother—uh no offense Mrs. Fabray.”  

“None taken.”

“So you can clean the shop _yourself_ and then I will _maintain_ it for you.” Before Charlie can form his next argument, she holds up her hand. “And don’t even think that the brownie family will take care of it for you. You’ve got to organize your stuff and I’m not touching anything until the shop is ready for commercial habitation.”

Charlie frowned, this was _not_ what he had in mind. He was paying Santana to do everything _he_ didn’t want to do. Cleaning the store was not something he wanted to do.

“I’ll help Mr. Charlie,” Antonio tugged on his arm. He probably had so much cool stuff tucked away all over his store. It would be fun.

Charlie pats Antonio on the head, “Excellent—”

“You’re not using Antonio as child labor either,” Santana adds, she would certainly help him get the store ready but she wasn’t going to do it by herself. She had heard the horror stories from Rachel, who had organized everything in her own system and Charlie had never been able to find what he was looking for.  This way maybe he would be able to keep the place neat and she’d have less work to do over all.

“This isn’t negotiable is it?” Charlie asked after a moment.

“No, it isn’t,” Santana crossed her arms over her chest, she was well aware that the entire Fabray clan was watching their interaction.

“Fine—I’m hungry now, let’s go get some food,” Charlie finished waving his hand.  

“Lunch is my treat.” Russell assures. The magician’s restaurant across the street from where they were had an all-you-can-eat buffet where the serving bowls were magically replenished. That should be enough to keep his son from racking up an enormous bill. He claps Santana warmly on the shoulder. “Welcome to the family.”


	14. Chapter 14

Santana turned her attention back to the door, which jingled as it opened. She hadn’t really gotten used to it, people other than his family entering his shop. It almost made it seem like Charlie was famous and actually _knew_ what he was doing. She still had her doubts after the mini fire he had caused this morning. At least she had managed to put it out before it got out of hand. It hadn’t helped that she had spent a week getting Charlie organized, especially since he just left things everywhere as if he expected them to be back where he put them when he needed them again. “Welcome to Pandora’s antiquities—oh good afternoon Mr. Fabray.” Santana smiled, it was a long way from the financial district. “Are we late on an order of your special packages? We’ve been busy and I don’t think he’s had time to go to the tunnels.

Russell made a face, the things he had to put up with. “No, of course not. My wife made it abundantly clear to Charles that he was _only_ allowed to get me dwarven alcohol for my birthday, father’s day and Christmas.”

“Do you want me to make a note of it so he doesn’t forget?” Santana asked.

“Please?”  

Santana nodded, surprised that the Fabray’s even celebrated Christmas at all. No one had really given her a talk about the various religions, and she made a mental note to ask Charlie about it. “Of course, but that’s not the reason you came all the way down here. Let me check to see what Charlie is up to.” Santana said pulling away to take a peek behind the dark curtain to check to see if he was currently in the middle of a spell.

“Actually—” Russell began.

“Charlie your dad’s here to see you,” Santana informed him, he didn’t look like he was in the middle of a spell. Instead he was busy jotting stuff down while playing with his magical coin.

“I’m aware, he tripped my wards,” Charlie replied looking at her.  

“You have a warning system that your parents are coming to visit and yet you can’t create a magical fire extinguisher that puts out any type of fire?” Santana demand.

“Well, I don’t _like_ dealing with my parents—but you’re right about the extinguisher that would be handy.”

“And when it works then you can sell them in your shop,” Charlie had already made some money off the glasses that he had created for her. But as far as she was concerned he was practically giving them away for free. They didn’t reflect the time and effort he put into making each one and even though he had gotten exceptionally quick at making them, that didn’t mean that they were worth only a few dollars. She was going to have to drag him through the store and make sure she understood how everything worked before deciding on the price for him. If he made more money, she was getting a raise. She’d have to visit another magical store to see what they were pricing their inventory however.

“I suppose you’re right, I don’t like making mass productions of spells. It’s _boring_ , and I don’t want to make magic _easy_.” Charlie muttered as he slid off his chair. He looks up at his dad and frowns. “What do you want?”

“I’m not here for you, I’m here to talk to your assistant. Go back to blowing stuff up and muttering to yourself about spells.”

“Oh.” Charlie brightens. “Well if you don’t need me, I’ve got orders to fill—you aren’t trying to steal my assistant are you?”  Charlie immediately puts his hand on Santana’s shoulder. “She’s _my_ assistant.”

Russell raised a brow, Charlie had never been this possessive before, though it could be that Quinn and Brittany had screwed him over before. “I’m _married_ to your mother, and I don’t _need_ another assistant. Terri barely has anything to do. Yet if you wish for me to _humiliate_ you in a duel, you can show your face at Sunday dinners.”

Charlie let go of Santana’s shoulder, studying his father for a moment. “You haven’t done magic in years, you don’t want me to embarrass you in front of mom. Who will immediately blame it on the fact that you’re an old man rather than the fact that you don’t do magic anymore.” Charlie turns to Santana. “If he offers you a job say no,” he orders before heading back to his work space.

Russell watched him go, “You help raise them and then when they become adults they think that they know everything.”

Santana shot him a small smile, “I’m worried about the day that Antonio doesn’t call me mommy anymore, or doesn’t want me to hug him publicly.”

“Charles was never that child, he’s always been a bit—off. Like there’s too much going on in his head,” Russell informed her studying her. “Though you’re right the reason I’m here isn’t to discuss about dwarven ale, it’s about your relationship with my assistant.”

“I haven’t seen Terri in a few days, she stopped by to see how I was doing and offered some advice but other than that, I haven’t spoken to her since.”

“Not that one, the _mundane_ one.” Russell corrected. “Samson, or Susan—what is his name?”

Santana froze for a moment her back going rigid. “Sebastian?”

“Is that it?” Russell furrows his brow and then shakes it off. “The one with the slick hair, right?”

Santana nods mutely.

“He’s been asking about you. And about my son. I don’t even have a picture of Charlie in my office. He never showed for the family portrait, but now apparently I have a wayward son that all the mundanes are gossiping about. I don’t like it. How does he know you?”

Santana studied Russell for a moment, he didn’t seem to judge her for having a son out of wedlock, but he also didn’t really know him. Still Sebastian was the one that had abandoned her. “He’s Antonio’s father. But—Antonio doesn’t know and Sebastian doesn’t want anything to do with my son. I haven’t seen him in years. I didn’t even know that he was working for you.”

Russell bites the inside of his cheek. “I see.”

Santana glanced away for a moment, turning to look at Charlie’s workshop, she liked to pretend that he didn’t hear things. Sometimes it was difficult ascertaining what he knew, but she had worked so hard and people were judgmental. She had been back when she was a teenager, looking at people who were _below_ her. She had never thought that her life could be this, and even though the job was harder than the damn bakery, she actually liked it. Antonio liked it here. He wasn’t like other people, he was odd and barely paid attention and he was blunt in a way that was both offensive and refreshing. It wasn’t that she thought he’d fire her for having Antonio, as far as she could tell Charlie _liked_ having Tony around, even if he continuously referred to her as a son as a dwarf. She had a sneaking suspicion that Charlie viewed Tony as a mascot.  No she was worried that Charlie would find her _mundane_. “Look, I don’t want him to come looking for Antonio either, he made it clear that he never wanted him when he handed me the money to get an abortion. _I_ made the choice to keep him, and Antonio doesn’t seem to mind that he doesn’t have a father. I figure in a few years he might get a bit pushy about it but right now he’s _all_ about magic.”

Russell nods, his opinion on Sebastian souring immediately.  “Well, he’s a fine young man and you’re doing an excellent job in raising him.  Curious, and he manages to keep my son on his toes. It’s difficult raising a child, I had three of them. We were only aiming for two and then we got twins. And I assure you having a father-figure doesn’t mean that he’ll come out normal.” Russell tilts his head to Charlie. “Still you love them even when they _rat_ you out to your wife!”

Santana relaxes and smiles, they were welcoming and she wasn’t being judged. She pauses for a moment and looks around before opening the drawer, and pulling out a bottle that Charlie kept for whatever reason. “I’ll see what I can do,” she promises him.

Russell grins, he knew that he liked this one better than Rachel and Mike. “Well if you want to work for me—” The curtain opened and Charlie poked his head out and glared at him holding his hand out, lightning arcing and building up in the palm of his hand. “You know where to find me. I know I pay better.”

“ _Out_.” Charlie snapped at his father.

Russell laughed and winked at Santana before turning to leave. He stops at the door for a moment and then grins turning back to Santana. “If you and your son ever want to join us for dinner, Charlie knows where we live I assume. We’re not a hundred percent sure that he hasn’t forgot. Just give me a call first. It’ll be good to have a child around, my children seem to be punishing us by not giving us what we want.”

“ _Out!_ ” Charlie insists crossing his arms. He relaxes the moment the door closes and he can no longer see his father. He shifts a bit and turns to Santana studying her for a moment.

“I’m not going to abandon you for your _father_. I’ll have nothing to do and I don’t think that I can leave you on your own. You’ll probably burn down the building,” Santana waves him off. “Get back to work. Also I need a list of your competition, we’re going to make this store the _best_ store in the area. I need to see what we’re up against so you aren’t hemorrhaging money.” Santana said briskly. She felt oddly uncomfortable under his gaze. It was difficult to know what went on his mind.

“Rachel would know that information better than I would,” he admits after a moment. “Also I’m going to need an empty fire extinguisher,” he adds before pulling the curtain back.

Santana nods watching as he reaches for something and sighs when he begins to fumble through the cue cards that Rachel had given him. “Say it, I told you that you don’t need to hide behind the cue cards.”

Charlie glances at her again, he fingers the card that was meant to express some form of generic empathy. “This _person_ , the dwarf’s father. If you want I can turn him into a slug or something. However I can’t promise that it’ll work. Transmogrification is not a specialty of mine and he’s probably going to explode. Or he’ll get stuck like that for a few weeks. It’s hard to tell sometimes. If I were to take an educated guess, it’s more likely to be the former. But not like a big explosion but like a splat. Like a bubble popping.”

Santana stared at him torn at being touched and weirdly grossed out by his description, “Thank you, but no. One day Antonio will ask about his father, one day he might even want to meet his father and I don’t want to be the one to tell him that you turned him into a slug and caused him to explode. Who knows, maybe one day Sebastian will actually want to _be_ a part of Antonio’s life. I doubt it but who knows?”

Charlie nods, and slips the cards in his pocket. “But if you change your mind?”

“I know where to find you.” Santana smiles at him. Sure he was weird but as bosses went he wasn’t the _worst_ boss she’d ever had, plus Antonio loved him as a babysitter.


	15. Chapter 15

Santana yawns and pads her way to the front door to stop the incessant knocking. There was only one possible culprit and by the time she got enough coffee in her blood to give her the energy to deal with him, he'd better pray that she's lost her homicidal rage. "Charlie, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Charlie frowns and lets himself in. "I told you. Today you and Antonio are learning more about magic. You asked me to teach you and the only way that I know how is to simply show you, and have you ask me questions. I find that it's easier for you to understand when you have questions. We've got a busy day ahead of today, mostly wards. I was under the opinion that we should do Brittany's wards first. Though we're going to have to avoid Lord Tubbington. I'm not allowed to zap him."

"Charlie it isn't even six o'clock in the morning." Santana rubs her eyes tiredly. It's way too early for this. "Antonio isn't even awake yet."

"So wake him up." Charlie shrugs, he never understood what the big deal was.

"No, I'm not going to wake my son up because you're a lunatic. Why are you even up? It's not even six yet!" Santana snaps at him. She sometimes forgot how inconsiderate he was.

Charlie tilts his head, "You're under the assumption that I went to sleep last night. I did some research, I looked into some myths, I did the work. I created something fantastic. Special, first of its kind—"

Santana stared at her boss for a moment, now that she noticed it he did have bags under his eyes and he did look tired. "Right. Whatever it is, you're not going to show it to my son until you've gotten some sleep. You're not doing any magic until you sleep, I know how dangerous a slipped syllable is and I'm not going to let you put anyone at risk because you're tired. I heard that it's just like drinking."

"Santana you don't understand it's the mark of—" Charlie yawns after Santana does and covers his mouth. "You did that on purpose."

"Of course I didn't. It's not even six yet." Santana sighs, managing his crazy was also part of her job and given that she'd worked with him for what felt like weeks, this was new. "Just—come inside." Santana says after a huge sigh and pulls him inside. "The couch isn't terrible so just sit down and relax, I'll make you a glass of warm milk—and give you a cookie." Santana adds before Charlie can even ask. He seems confused at first but he allows her to pull her along and she motions for him to sit on her comfy couch. This trick had worked on Antonio when he had refused to go to bed despite being tired and as smart as Charlie was, all he really needed to do was sit for a moment and he'd probably be out like a light.

Charlie scowls. They are losing valuable time, but he supposes a cookie couldn't hurt anything.

~O~

He wakes to the dwarf poking him in the chest and sits up quickly. "Finally, you're awake. We need to start practicing. It's a good thing your mother decided to wake you."

Antonio munches on his cereal and watches Charlie in confusion. "This is the time I always get up. Why were you sleeping?"

"I wasn't sleeping, I was—wait, what time is it?" Charlie glances down at his watch, scandalized. Santana must have tricked him somehow. He's torn between being impressed that his assistant got one up on him and being annoyed that his assistant managed to trick him into sleeping. He'd have to be very careful around Santana in the future. She was tricky. "Nearly eight. No matter, we need to get started right away. Protective wards can be difficult but—"

"How about we wait until everyone has had breakfast." Santana interrupts, sipping a mug full of warm coffee. Charlie hadn't even managed to have his cookie, he had passed out in seconds. It certainly saved her the cup of warm milk.

"Yes. Food. I'll take pancakes, eggs, and bacon, some sausage if you have it. Also your entire bottle of maple syrup." Charlie ordered as he began to work on the wrinkles in his shirt. "If I'm going to be doing magic then I need all the energy I can get."

Antonio stops eating his cereal and looks at his mom. "I want that too." Santana stared at her son and raised a brow at him causing Antonio to squirm. "Actually I'd rather have this cereal. Yummy."

Santana nods she wasn't going to let Antonio pick up on any of Charlie's bad habits which included barking food orders at her like she was his slave. If he wasn't as odd as he was she would think that he was being sexist, but she imagined that he had treated Mike the same way. "No Charlie, if you want to eat an obscene amount of food go to the diner." She wouldn't mind making him food if he ate normal portions but he didn't.

Charlie sighed, "Fine then we'll go to the diner then and then we'll go to get the wards done. Come along Antonio—oh I have something for you." Charlie said fishing around in his pockets. "I was going to give it to you once your mom woke you up." Charlie muttered before pulling out a chain and holding it out for Antonio. "I created it last night—"

"While you were sleep deprived? You're not going to give anything magical to my son until you run that through some tests to make sure that you didn't drop a syllable or forget a word. I don't want him to explode and no Antonio exploding is not cool it's very bad."

Charlie scowled at the implication that he needed sleep to conduct magic. It was balderdash as far as he was concerned. He had spent many nights working on spells, and there had only been one small fire. Once. "I do all my best thinking at night Santana. Ask the Brownies," he replies with an indignant sniff. He studies the charm in his hand and then pockets it. "But I'll make sure it won't cause him to explode."

"That's all I ask," Santana responds trying not to smile at his indignation. It would be rude to laugh at him and she wasn't quite sure that Charlie knew how to handle a little bit of teasing. Though he did have two sisters and a father that put up their best efforts to deflate his ego. "So you know, my shift doesn't actually start till nine, and it's far too early for all this magic mumbo jumbo, so as long as you're paying for breakfast then I suppose Antonio and I can join you. I just need to call the school and inform them that Antonio isn't coming in today."

It seemed to be news to Antonio who dropped his bowl of cereal on the hardwood floor, and Santana was glad that it was plastic. She was also grateful at Spot who began to clean the floor of the cereal. "I'm not going to school?" Antonio's eyes widened and he turns to Charlie who doesn't seem to be paying attention. "That's AWESOME."

"For today, only for today this is not going to be a regular thing. School is important," Santana interjects immediately, sighing as her son began to vibrate in excitement. It really was far too early for this.

"Defensive wards are important." Charlie counters, he's been itching to work with Santana and Antonio. It's not safe especially since his wards had been tripped last night. He's not worried or anxious—those are emotions for lesser magicians—no, he's simply concerned. Antonio has no way of defending himself and he's not sure that Santana does either. He doesn't want to let either of them out of his sight until he knows they are protected. His stomach growls and he picks up the cookie from the coffee table and shoves it in his mouth. "You can call on the way, I'm starving."

Santana rolls her eyes but ushers her son and Charlie out of the apartment, grabbing her purse just in case Charlie forgets mundane currency again. She practically runs into Charlie who stopped short in the middle of the hallway, staring at a coin in his palm that seems to be vibrating softly.

"What's that?" Antonio asks, he's seen the coin before but it's never done that before.

Santana frowns, she's seen protective wards before but didn't realize Charlie had them around the shop. "Charlie?"

"Both of you. Wait here." Charlie commands, darting down the stairs without a backward glance. His alarms had been tripped again—even if this was different.

His urgency makes Santana frown. "Antonio, stay right here." She repeats Charlie's command before following after him. What the hell had he gotten himself into this time?

"But—"

"Stay." Santana repeated as she followed down the steps and followed Charlie into the store, only to notice that he had once again stopped and was currently facing the shop window. "Please don't let it be some death worm or something insane like that." Santana mumbled under her breath.

Charlie flicked his eyes towards Santana as the electricity crackled off his fingers, "Don't be silly Santana. Death worms cause earthquakes," He rolled his eyes at this and studied the people outside his shop. They felt off, magic that hadn't been untapped—almost like Santana. Perhaps if his new custom wards had been created when Santana had applied she would have set off his alarms as well. They had enough magic even if it was raw and untouched to set off his wards and far more importantly they weren't here in goodwill. It had been a piece of brilliant ward making with Brittany, the only time he needed her expertise. "I don't know them," he says after a moment. He didn't know most magicians in his graduating class. He knew enough that he wasn't particularly popular but there were very few people who hated him.

Santana peers past them and freezes as she stares. "I—"

Charlie flicks his eyes towards Santana, and then back at the strange people at the entrance of the store. They seemed to know who Santana was and they were focused on her. "I can make them go away." He says after a moment turning his attention back to them. "Who are they?"

Santana blinks and takes a step back not sure what she wants to do, "They're my parents," she manages after a moment. Her mind immediately going back to Antonio. "I—he's never met them and they wanted me to get rid of him—you know through—or you know giving him up. And I couldn't fuck I couldn't he's my baby and maybe he would have had an easier life but he's my baby." Sebastian it had to be Sebastian, he had called her parents and given them the information that they needed to find her.

"I can make them go away." Charlie repeats slowly. He's not quite sure how he is supposed to handle this, but he feels himself relax. These people—Santana's parents must have tripped the wards last night too. That meant that Santana and Antonio were not at risk for an imminent threat.

"No." She blows out a breath tiredly. It really is too early for this. "I should hear them out, at least get this over with. Otherwise they'll just keep coming back until they've said what they want to say."

Charlie frowns and looks at his coin again. "Your family has magic, enough to trip my alarms. It's possible that someone in your family simply ended up like Mike, and just didn't inherit any magic. It happens, magic sometimes skips a generation. Though it's rare to simply go and live life as a mundane." He closes his fist and pockets the coin, looking at Santana. "They have magic, but they're like you they've never used it, and more importantly they're intentions are less than pure. It's possible that they tripped the alarm last night, which means I need to rework the wards."

Santana nods, "I'm sorry—I didn't—they haven't talked to me in years and I didn't even think that they knew where I was. Maybe I should have let you turn Sebastian into a slug," Santana sighs, looking at her parents. Her mother points to the door but she doesn't move to open it. "What do you think they want?"

"Whenever my parents show up unexpectedly it's to lecture me about my life decisions, or to tell me that I should stop making fun of Quinn or blowing up her front door, or that I should be happy that Quinn and Brittany stole my assistants." Charlie made a face. "It's probably the first one unless you have siblings who take your things."

The words seem to pull Santana out of her stunned state and she narrows her eyes at him. "Your things?"

"Yes. Quinn always took my stuff; I imagine taking my assistant was the next logical step." Charlie responds as if he didn't say anything wrong.

"I'm not a thing."

"Of course you aren't you're a person and more importantly my assistant. Which makes you quite valuable. I'm sure that in a year or two that there will be other magicians attempting to poach you from me." Charlie sniffed in an irritated fashion.

Santana shakes her head; she wasn't going anywhere. As much as Charlie drove her crazy and was a giant weirdo Antonio adored Charlie, and seeing how much he was trying to keep them safe like he promised—she doubted that there was another magician quite like Charlie. "Well, when it comes to that I imagine we can renegotiate our contract."

"I give you free dwarf-sitting! I'm not paying you a penny more."

Santana rolled her eyes, she didn't need more money, "I'm aware," Santana says after a moment, she was simply going to negotiate the silly cookie deal that she had with him. As far as she was concerned he had a cookie addiction. "Speaking of the dwarf—Antonio—you really need to stop calling him a dwarf—"

"Never. He's a hairless dwarf."

"He's a child."

"I don't understand what the difference is. They're both loud, smelly and have tiny hands."

Santana opened her mouth and then closed it. "I actually believe you. Which is why it's odd that I'm going to ask you to take Antonio to the diner. Please—he's a good kid and I don't want him to know that his grandparents, the people who are supposed to love him and spoil him, think that he shouldn't exist. Are ashamed of him or me. I just—"

Charlie studied her for a moment and then glances at her parents for a moment. "Alright. When you're done you can join us. Do you want the French Toast?"

Santana resists the urge to shoot him a grateful smile, he probably didn't even realize that he was being nice, but she was grateful. "Yeah I think I'd like that." She admits after a moment.

Charlie nods and reaches over to pat Santana's arm, "Just do what I do when people talk to me, work out complicated magical problems in your head and nod and go 'yes' occasionally to make it seem like you're listening."

Santana opened her mouth and then closed it. She believed him when he said that as well. She waits until he pulls away and heads back to be with Antonio before moving towards the door to let her parents in. She could already feel the lump in her throat and even though she had been on her own for nearly six years making adult decisions and being an adult the look on their faces made her feel like a child.


	16. Chapter 16

Santana yawns and pads her way to the front door to stop the incessant knocking. There was only one possible culprit and by the time she got enough coffee in her blood to give her the energy to deal with him, he’d better pray that she’s lost her homicidal rage. “Charlie, what the hell is wrong with you?”

Charlie frowns and lets himself in. “I told you. Today you and Antonio are learning more about magic. You asked me to teach you and the only way that I know how is to simply show you, and have you ask me questions. I find that it’s easier for you to understand when you have questions. We’ve got a busy day ahead of today, mostly wards. I was under the opinion that we should do Brittany’s wards first. Though we’re going to have to avoid Lord Tubbington. I’m not allowed to zap him.”

“Charlie it isn’t even six o’clock in the morning.” Santana rubs her eyes tiredly. It’s way too early for this. “Antonio isn’t even awake yet.”

“So wake him up.” Charlie shrugs, he never understood what the big deal was.

“No, I’m not going to wake my son up because you’re a lunatic. Why are you even up? It’s not even six yet!” Santana snaps at him. She sometimes forgot how inconsiderate he was.

Charlie tilts his head, “You’re under the assumption that I went to sleep last night. I did some research, I looked into some myths, I did the work. I created something fantastic. Special, first of its kind—”

Santana stared at her boss for a moment, now that she noticed it he did have bags under his eyes and he did look tired. “Right. Whatever it is, you’re not going to show it to my son until you’ve gotten some sleep. You're not doing any magic until you sleep, I know how dangerous a slipped syllable is and I'm not going to let you put anyone at risk because you’re tired. I heard that it’s just like drinking.”

“Santana you don’t understand it’s the mark of—” Charlie yawns after Santana does and covers his mouth. “You did that on purpose.”

“Of course I didn’t. It’s not even six yet.” Santana sighs, managing his crazy was also part of her job and given that she’d worked with him for what felt like weeks, this was new. “Just—come inside.” Santana says after a huge sigh and pulls him inside. “The couch isn’t terrible so just sit down and relax, I’ll make you a glass of warm milk—and give you a cookie.” Santana adds before Charlie can even ask. He seems confused at first but he allows her to pull her along and she motions for him to sit on her comfy couch. This trick had worked on Antonio when he had refused to go to bed despite being tired and as smart as Charlie was, all he really needed to do was sit for a moment and he’d probably be out like a light.

Charlie scowls. They are losing valuable time, but he supposes a cookie couldn’t hurt anything.

~O~

He wakes to the dwarf poking him in the chest and sits up quickly. “Finally, you’re awake. We need to start practicing. It’s a good thing your mother decided to wake you.”

Antonio munches on his cereal and watches Charlie in confusion. “This is the time I always get up. Why were you sleeping?”

“I wasn’t sleeping, I was—wait, what time is it?” Charlie glances down at his watch, scandalized. Santana must have tricked him somehow. He’s torn between being impressed that his assistant got one up on him and being annoyed that his assistant managed to trick him into sleeping. He’d have to be very careful around Santana in the future. She was tricky. “Nearly eight. No matter, we need to get started right away. Protective wards can be difficult but—”

“How about we wait until everyone has had breakfast.” Santana interrupts, sipping a mug full of warm coffee. Charlie hadn’t even managed to have his cookie, he had passed out in seconds. It certainly saved her the cup of warm milk.

“Yes. Food. I’ll take pancakes, eggs, and bacon, some sausage if you have it. Also your entire bottle of maple syrup.” Charlie ordered as he began to work on the wrinkles in his shirt. “If I’m going to be doing magic then I need all the energy I can get.”

Antonio stops eating his cereal and looks at his mom. “I want that too.” Santana stared at her son and raised a brow at him causing Antonio to squirm. “Actually I’d rather have this cereal.  Yummy.”

Santana nods she wasn’t going to let Antonio pick up on any of Charlie’s bad habits which included barking food orders at her like she was his slave. If he wasn’t as odd as he was she would think that he was being sexist, but she imagined that he had treated Mike the same way. “No Charlie, if you want to eat an obscene amount of food go to the diner.” She wouldn’t mind making him food if he ate normal portions but he didn’t. 

Charlie sighed, “Fine then we’ll go to the diner then and then we’ll go to get the wards done. Come along Antonio—oh I have something for you.” Charlie said fishing around in his pockets. “I was going to give it to you once your mom woke you up.” Charlie muttered before pulling out a chain and holding it out for Antonio. “I created it last night—”

“While you were sleep deprived? You’re not going to give anything magical to my son until you run that through some tests to make sure that you didn’t drop a syllable or forget a word. I don’t want him to explode and no Antonio exploding is not cool it’s very bad.”

Charlie scowled at the implication that he needed sleep to conduct magic. It was balderdash as far as he was concerned. He had spent many nights working on spells, and there had only been one small fire. Once. “I do all my best thinking at night Santana. Ask the Brownies,” he replies with an indignant sniff. He studies the charm in his hand and then pockets it. “But I’ll make sure it won’t cause him to explode.”

“That’s all I ask,” Santana responds trying not to smile at his indignation. It would be rude to laugh at him and she wasn’t quite sure that Charlie knew how to handle a little bit of teasing. Though he did have two sisters and a father that put up their best efforts to deflate his ego. “So you know, my shift doesn’t actually start till nine, and it’s far too early for all this magic mumbo jumbo, so as long as you’re paying for breakfast then I suppose Antonio and I can join you. I just need to call the school and inform them that Antonio isn’t coming in today.”

It seemed to be news to Antonio who dropped his bowl of cereal on the hardwood floor, and Santana was glad that it was plastic. She was also grateful at Spot who began to clean the floor of the cereal. “I’m not going to school?” Antonio’s eyes widened and he turns to Charlie who doesn’t seem to be paying attention. “That’s AWESOME.”

“For today, only for today this is not going to be a regular thing. School is important,” Santana interjects immediately, sighing as her son began to vibrate in excitement. It really was far too early for this.

“Defensive wards are important.” Charlie counters, he’s been itching to work with Santana and Antonio. It’s not safe especially since his wards had been tripped last night. He’s not worried or anxious—those are emotions for lesser magicians—no, he’s simply concerned. Antonio has no way of defending himself and he’s not sure that Santana does either. He doesn’t want to let either of them out of his sight until he knows they are protected. His stomach growls and he picks up the cookie from the coffee table and shoves it in his mouth. “You can call on the way, I’m starving.”

Santana rolls her eyes but ushers her son and Charlie out of the apartment, grabbing her purse just in case Charlie forgets mundane currency again. She practically runs into Charlie who stopped short in the middle of the hallway, staring at a coin in his palm that seems to be vibrating softly.

“What’s that?” Antonio asks, he’s seen the coin before but it’s never done that before.

Santana frowns, she’s seen protective wards before but didn’t realize Charlie had them around the shop. “Charlie?”

“Both of you. Wait here.” Charlie commands, darting down the stairs without a backward glance. His alarms had been tripped again—even if this was different. 

His urgency makes Santana frown. “Antonio, stay right here.” She repeats Charlie’s command before following after him. What the hell had he gotten himself into this time?

“But—”

“Stay.” Santana repeated as she followed down the steps and followed Charlie into the store, only to notice that he had once again stopped and was currently facing the shop window. “Please don’t let it be some death worm or something insane like that.” Santana mumbled under her breath.

Charlie flicked his eyes towards Santana as the electricity crackled off his fingers, “Don’t be silly Santana. Death worms cause earthquakes,” He rolled his eyes at this and studied the people outside his shop. They felt off, magic that hadn’t been untapped—almost like Santana. Perhaps if his new custom wards had been created when Santana had applied she would have set off his alarms as well. They had enough magic even if it was raw and untouched to set off his wards and far more importantly they weren’t here in goodwill. It had been a piece of brilliant ward making with Brittany, the only time he needed her expertise. “I don’t know them,” he says after a moment. He didn’t know most magicians in his graduating class. He knew enough that he wasn’t particularly popular but there were very few people who hated him.

Santana peers past them and freezes as she stares. “I—”

Charlie flicks his eyes towards Santana, and then back at the strange people at the entrance of the store. They seemed to know who Santana was and they were focused on her. “I can make them go away.” He says after a moment turning his attention back to them. “Who are they?”

Santana blinks and takes a step back not sure what she wants to do, “They’re my parents,” she manages after a moment. Her mind immediately going back to Antonio. “I—he’s never met them and they wanted me to get rid of him—you know through—or you know giving him up. And I couldn’t fuck I couldn’t he’s my baby and maybe he would have had an easier life but he’s my baby.” Sebastian it had to be Sebastian, he had called her parents and given them the information that they needed to find her.

“I can make them go away.” Charlie repeats slowly. He’s not quite sure how he is supposed to handle this, but he feels himself relax. These people—Santana’s parents must have tripped the wards last night too. That meant that Santana and Antonio were not at risk for an imminent threat.

“No.” She blows out a breath tiredly. It really is too early for this. “I should hear them out, at least get this over with. Otherwise they’ll just keep coming back until they’ve said what they want to say.”

Charlie frowns and looks at his coin again. “Your family has magic, enough to trip my alarms. It’s possible that someone in your family simply ended up like Mike, and just didn’t inherit any magic. It happens, magic sometimes skips a generation. Though it’s rare to simply go and live life as a mundane.” He closes his fist and pockets the coin, looking at Santana. “They have magic, but they’re like you they’ve never used it, and more importantly they’re intentions are less than pure. It’s possible that they tripped the alarm last night, which means I need to rework the wards.”

Santana nods, “I’m sorry—I didn’t—they haven’t talked to me in years and I didn’t even think that they knew where I was. Maybe I should have let you turn Sebastian into a slug,” Santana sighs, looking at her parents. Her mother points to the door but she doesn’t move to open it. “What do you think they want?”

“Whenever my parents show up unexpectedly it’s to lecture me about my life decisions, or to tell me that I should stop making fun of Quinn or blowing up her front door, or that I should be happy that Quinn and Brittany stole my assistants.” Charlie made a face. “It’s probably the first one unless you have siblings who take your things.”

The words seem to pull Santana out of her stunned state and she narrows her eyes at him. “Your things?”

“Yes. Quinn always took my stuff; I imagine taking my assistant was the next logical step.” Charlie responds as if he didn’t say anything wrong.

“I’m not a thing.”

“Of course you aren’t you’re a person and more importantly my assistant. Which makes you quite valuable. I’m sure that in a year or two that there will be other magicians attempting to poach you from me.” Charlie sniffed in an irritated fashion.

Santana shakes her head; she wasn’t going anywhere. As much as Charlie drove her crazy and was a giant weirdo Antonio adored Charlie, and seeing how much he was trying to keep them safe like he promised—she doubted that there was another magician quite like Charlie.  “Well, when it comes to that I imagine we can renegotiate our contract.”

“I give you free dwarf-sitting! I’m not paying you a penny more.”

Santana rolled her eyes, she didn’t need more money, “I’m aware,” Santana says after a moment, she was simply going to negotiate the silly cookie deal that she had with him. As far as she was concerned he had a cookie addiction. “Speaking of the dwarf—Antonio—you really need to stop calling him a dwarf—”

“Never. He’s a hairless dwarf.”

“He’s a child.”

“I don’t understand what the difference is. They’re both loud, smelly and have tiny hands.”

Santana opened her mouth and then closed it. “I actually believe you. Which is why it’s odd that I’m going to ask you to take Antonio to the diner. Please—he’s a good kid and I don’t want him to know that his grandparents, the people who are supposed to love him and spoil him, think that he shouldn’t exist. Are ashamed of him or me. I just—”

Charlie studied her for a moment and then glances at her parents for a moment. “Alright. When you’re done you can join us. Do you want the French Toast?”

Santana resists the urge to shoot him a grateful smile, he probably didn’t even realize that he was being nice, but she was grateful.  “Yeah I think I’d like that.” She admits after a moment.

Charlie nods and reaches over to pat Santana’s arm, “Just do what I do when people talk to me, work out complicated magical problems in your head and nod and go ‘yes’ occasionally to make it seem like you’re listening.”

Santana opened her mouth and then closed it. She believed him when he said that as well. She waits until he pulls away and heads back to be with Antonio before moving towards the door to let her parents in. She could already feel the lump in her throat and even though she had been on her own for nearly six years making adult decisions and being an adult the look on their faces made her feel like a child.


	17. Chapter 17

“Is mom going to be here soon?” Antonio asked struggling to keep up with Charlie’s long legs.

Charlie tilts his head and pauses for a moment realizing that Antonio was lagging behind. He had forgotten that he had short stubby legs like a dwarf. He waits momentarily for Antonio to catch up and tilts his head. He had simply been lost in thought. “She has some business to attend to, so I’m buying you breakfast.”

Antonio grinned, he could get whatever he wanted when Mr. Charlie took him out to eat. He could have pancakes _and_ French toast. His mom always made him pick one, plus he got to drink as much juice as he wanted. “Okay.” Today was the best day ever. He didn’t have to go to school he got to spend time with Mr, Charlie and they were going to the _zoo_.

“And giving you your first magic lesson.” Charlie adds after a moment.

Antonio nearly tripped at that, his eyes widening. “ _Really_? Are you going to teach me to shoot fire from my hands or—or do that lightning thing you do or—those magic tricks you showed my class? Or can I make things fly—can I turn into a _dragon_?”

“No. I’m going to teach you how to protect yourself and your mom. I think that’s far more important than learning how to levitate things don’t you?”

Antonio nods seriously, that did sound super important. “I thought you said that I shouldn’t use magic until I was older?”

“Yes. I did. Which is why all I’m going to do today is teach you how to draw a ward, a powerful ward that will keep you safe in case I’m not around to do it. It’s not something you can just play around with Antonio. It’s only for emergencies.”

“Like 9-1-1.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

Antonio stopped. “You don’t know what 9-1-1 is?”

“No. Should I?” Charlie asks.

“You’re supposed to call them if there’s an emergency. They’ll send an ambulance if you’re hurt or a fire truck if there’s a fire, or a police car if you’re in danger. Magician’s don’t use 911?”

“I don’t use 911. I can put out my own fires, and I don’t trust Quinn to come and save me. She’d probably be late.”

“You got hurt remember and we had to call someone to come fix you.”

“And it cost me an arm and a leg,” Charlie grumbled. “Yes, I do make use of emergency magician healers. I’m not a very good healer. I don’t have a talent for it like my mother does. Who knows maybe you’ll get a talent like mine or perhaps you’ll get a talent like your mother’s.”

“Her third-eye?”

“Yes, I imagine it would be psychic type like Brittany. But the moment your magic comes in properly then we’ll see what your talent is.”

“I want to be able to shoot fireballs.”

“Elemental types like me and Quinn are rare. But, who knows?” Charlie says after a moment. Antonio could be so much more than just an elemental type. He opens the door to the diner for him and watches him enter. Charlie turns to Sheila who immediately smiles at him. “We need a coloring book and those crayons,” He informs her not even bothering to say hello as he takes his usual booth. Antonio sitting across from him.

Sheila nods and heads over, “Babysitting again?”

Antonio huffed at the term as Charlie took the crayons from her. “Of course not. I don’t like babies,” Charlie responds flipping the paper placemat over so he could begin to draw the ward. “We’re going to need more paper.”

“I’ll have the pancakes _and_ the French toast please—oh and some apple juice,” Antonio informs Sheila who immediately writes down his order.

“The usual?” Sheila asks turning to Charlie.

“Yes, oh—right the usual.” Charlie mumbled without looking up. Crayons were hardly the best instrument to draw wards with. He looks up at Sheila, “Can I borrow a pen? I need to teach the boy magic.”

Sheila smiled and immediately handed him one of her spares. “There you go anything else?”

“Oh. Yes, actually, there is something else. Santana will probably be joining us so can you get a plate of French toast?” Charlie adds after a moment. “She would have taken my plate and then I’d be hungry before lunch. Now. Let’s get back to your magic lesson. How good at you at drawing?”

“My mom says I’m really good at it, but I know I’m not. She can’t even tell when I draw her a picture of Spot. She thinks it’s a dog.”

Charlie raised a brow and handed him a pen and watched Antonio draw for a few moments. He tilts his head when Antonio finishes and stares at the picture. “You’re right you are terrible at drawing.”

Antonio scowls at him and puts the paper down. “Does that mean I can’t do magic?”

“Don’t worry I was terrible at drawing as well, I still am,” Charlie informs him. “That’s why most magician’s _cheat_.”

Antonio frowns, “Mom says cheating is bad.”

“Your mother also says that I can’t do magic _on_ you, unless it’s an emergency. So you’re stuck doing it the old fashion way. Practicing drawing circles until you can make a perfect one in your sleep.” Charlie responds.

Antonio’s eyes widen. That seemed like a lot of work. “I think I’d rather cheat.”

“Well, your mom thinks that cheating is bad, and I’m not allowed to do magic on you so we’re stuck practicing. It’s important that you learn how to draw this perfectly. How are you going to summon dragons or other things if you can’t draw a simple circle?” Charlie asked.

Antonio opened his mouth to protest for a moment before closing it and concentrating hard as he attempted to draw a circle like Charlie’s. He sticks out his tongue as he concentrates and finally finishes handing the paper back to Charlie waiting for him to grade it.

Charlie stares at the terrible circle in front of him and then back at Antonio and then back at the circle. Of all the days to forget his flashcards. He decided to go with blunt honesty. “This is a terrible circle.” Antonio's face fell at his criticism. “If you tried to summon a dragon through this circle it wouldn’t go well at all. You might lose a finger. Or three. Then you can’t be a _good_ magician.”

“I don’t want to lose a finger!” Antonio shouts grasping at his fingers.

“Then you need to do better, I don’t want you to lose a finger either your mother would kill me.”

Antonio nods, “I thought you were teaching me how to draw wards?”

“Oh right, summoning comes later. Wards are simpler to draw but you have to make it _perfect_. You’re still going to have to practice _a lot_. If you want to be an _excellent_ magician like me, it takes a lot of hard work. I want you to be an excellent magician Antonio. So I’m not going to baby you okay? You know what happens when you baby a magician?”

“What?”

“They turn out like Quinn.” Charlie sniffed at this.  So much wasted potential there.

Antonio laughs and picks up his pen, “Mrs. Rachel said that Mrs. Quinn was a really strong magician.”

“Antonio, you’re going to run into _plenty_ of strong magicians, some of which will be stronger than you. But power isn’t everything. You need to know how to _wield_ the power you do have properly and be smarter, and who knows maybe one day you will be able to beat me.”

“Really? I’ll be able to beat you in magic?”

Charlie raised a brow. He wasn’t much for lying but the dwarf looked rather eager. “Well, not if you can’t draw a perfect circle.” He says after and it seems to be the right thing to say as Antonio picks up the pen and tries again.

~O~

Maribel frowns as she looks around Santana’s apartment. “You live here?” She asks, eyeing the granite countertops and the travertine tile floor pointedly. Her mom always had an eye for designer furniture.

“Yeah, I live here.” Santana crosses her arms and tries not to wither under her mother’s calculating gaze. Just because she didn’t go to college didn’t mean she wasn’t capable of taking care of her son.

“Alone?” Carlos scoffs.

“No, Papi.” Santana drops all pretense that this conversation is going to go well. “I live here with my _son_. But yes. The _two_ of us live here alone.”

“And you think a man pays someone like you enough money to live in a place like this just to be his receptionist?”

“I’m the _manager_ of his shop.” Santana corrects. “And what? You think he wants to fuck me? Well the jokes on you, Papi because I’m fairly certain that Charlie wouldn’t know what to do with his penis if he ever got the chance.”

“A manager of a _magic_ shop.” Maribel laughs humorlessly. “Come now Santana, we taught you better than that.”

Santana gritted her teeth, her parents wouldn’t last a day doing her job. “Charlie—might be odd but he’s a good person and more importantly he’s a fantastic magician. Not only that but Antonio loves spending time with him and he enjoys spending time with Antonio.” At least she thought he did, it was hard to tell with Charlie sometimes. “I don’t know why you’re here. You’ve made it perfectly clear that you wanted nothing to do with Antonio—”

“We were fine when you wanted to run off and prove yourself, but flaunting your mistake for the rest of the world to see is an _embarrassment_ to this family. Parading that child of yours in front of _Russell Fabray_ is something that we can’t even ignore—”

“That’s what this is about? He talked to you about this?” There was a hint of betrayal in her voice, Russell hadn’t seemed like the type of person—he had seemed so interested in Antonio the entire family had.

“Of course not, but Sebastian has been having a hard time at work because he’s fallen out of favor with him. If you wish to ruin your life, and make terrible choices but to drag someone else down?”

Santana nearly sighed in relief, she hadn’t been wrong about the Fabray family. “Sebastian? You mean Antonio’s sperm donor?” Santana said flatly. “Russell didn’t even _know_ his name, not to mention Sebastian insulted his son in front of him. Maybe, it’s highly likely that Russell Fabray isn’t as judgmental as you are.” That was a lie, it seemed Russell did have it in him, he didn’t like Rachel or Mike but that was only because he believed that no one was good enough for his girls. In Charlie’s case, she was sure Russell would just be happy if his son showed an interest in women or men, or at this point dwarves.  He was willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel for Charlie. “Or maybe he doesn’t like the idea that a man would deny his responsibility to make his life easier. Russell _likes_ Antonio, and I think he likes me as well.  He offered me a job. So at least _someone_ sees that I’m not—useless because I had a kid out of wedlock.”

“You’re a single mother, who didn’t graduate from high school. You didn’t go to university, and you’re working in a _dead end job_. Russell probably offered you a job so you wouldn't be anywhere near his son. From what Sebastian has told us and from what we can witness he’s probably a bit slow.” Maribel reminds her.

“Your mother is being polite, a grown man playing _make-believe_? He’s probably a retard.” Carlos sneers. No wonder Russell didn’t mention him, he probably paid to have this store running.

Santana’s fists tightened and she stared at her parents angrily. Charlie was socially awkward and uninterested in dealing with people that he deemed too slow. He didn’t _enjoy_ having to stop and explain himself to people who should be able to keep up, he didn’t have the patience for it. Yet even though he hated it, he stopped and taught Antonio and answered questions that she might have. “First off, he’s a genius. He doesn’t have time for people and that makes him socially awkward, but he’s making an attempt at fixing it. Something he shouldn’t have to do just to make people like you _comfortable_. Second of all, you’re both fucking assholes and I want you out of my apartment. I don’t want Antonio to have anything to do with you.”

“ _You_ don’t talk to us like that.” Carlos pointed at her, his voice taking on that same authoritative tone it used to have when she was younger. “We are your parents. So I’ll tell you how this is going to go. You’re going to pack everything you own. If I need to, I’ll pay for some movers to help. Then you’re going to stop embarrassing this family and go back to school. You can start working at your mother’s law firm part time in the filing department—”

“ _Filing?_ Really? You want me to do the same job I did when I was thirteen?”

“I have no confidence you’ll be any better at this than you were when you were thirteen.”

“You may be my parents, but I’m not a child anymore. I’ve been an adult and I’ve been on my own since I was sixteen and you kicked me out. Antonio is my child and I will do everything and anything in my power to protect him if that means keeping him away from the two of you then so be it. I know he’d _hate_ being in that house. I did. I like my job, I make a decent salary and my boss isn’t a giant gaping asshole. So _no_. I’m not going with you. I’m _telling you_ that you need to get the hell out of my apartment before I call the cops and have them remove you. How do you think that will play with your snobby as fuck friends? Now excuse me. I’m going to go join my _boss_ and my son and have breakfast. So get the fuck out.” Santana swallows standing her ground.

“If you think this is over Santana—”

“ _Get out_!” Santana repeated putting emphasis on the word. She wanted them gone. She needed them gone, and after one harsher judgmental look they storm out. She waits for a moment and then another until she’s sure that they’ve left the building before breaking, crumpling to her knees. She just needed a moment or two collect herself. Antonio needed her to be strong and she sure as hell wasn’t going to break in front of Charlie. He’d probably have a coronary or something not knowing what to do. The thought of that is enough to bring a small smile to her face and she laughs and rubs her face. She wasn’t going to have a nervous breakdown because of _them_.

There’s a small hissing sound and she looks up at Spot who had managed to get herself on top of the cabinets again. Santana sighed and pushed herself up, trying not to laugh at the dragon who seemed annoyed. An animal that could fly that was afraid of heights, who would have thought. “You have wings.” She shakes her head and gets the step-stool so she could reach up to get the dragon.

How in the world could she ever go back to a _regular_ life after seeing all this? There was nothing her parents could do that would make her even consider going back.


	18. Chapter 18

“I can’t believe we’re going to see _dragons_! _”_ Antonio shouted a huge grin on his face. He was about to race away down the hidden path that Charlie had taken them to, so that he could start exploring when he feels a firm hand on his shoulder. He turns and looks up at Charlie who was holding onto him. He tries to pull away only to feel Charlie tighten his grip.

“Antonio, there are various creatures here that _will_ eat you. Which means that you shouldn’t run off.”  Charlie flicks his eyes towards Antonio, “You’re the perfect size to eat.”

Antonio’s eyes widen in shock at his words, and he looks at his mom a look of disbelief etched onto his features. Santana sighs and runs a hand through his hair, “Mijo, you need to stick close to Charlie or Brittany okay, this place maybe straight out of Narnia but it’s dangerous. So you need to do whatever Charlie says, and listen to him.” Santana shifts so she can kneel in front of him and help him zip up his jacket, it was getting cold. “So promise me mijo.”

“I promise.” Antonio promised hugging his mom tightly, she seemed a bit scared. He pulls away and looks at Charlie who was staring up past the trees a frown on his face. He reaches over and takes his hand holding it tightly. The action causes Charlie to blink and look at him and then his hand. It wasn’t his fault, Charlie had super long legs and walked really fast and he had a hard time keeping up. “What are you looking for?”

“Brittany’s _feathered beast from hell_.” Charlie responds before going back to studying the skyline. The zoo was hidden deep within the forest, a natural habitat for _most_ of inhabitants. It was more of a reserve than an actual zoo, most of the animals were allowed to roam free, certain mythical creatures were simply far too dangerous to be allowed to roam free. _Especially_ Lord Tubbington, the demon monster himself. Charlie was no fool, the second he let his guard down the stupid gryffin would be right there to attack. He _hated_ this place some of the creatures had a weird fascination with him, but Brittany paid him to do interesting magic. “Come on let’s go find Brittany and the traitor.”

Antonio nods and grips Charlie’s hand tighter as they start to walk through the forest. There’s something hiding in the forest. As they continue to walk more and more glowing blue eyes start to appear in the tree branches. The hairs on the back of his neck tingle as glowing blue eyes watch them just beyond his view. “Mr. Charlie. Something’s watching us.”

“I know,” Charlie responds irritation in his voice. He continues to walk holding Antonio’s hand when he suddenly hears the laughter.

 _‘_ ** _Mister Witcher sees us._** _’_ A small puff of black smoke that crackles with blue sparks smirks as it appears in front of them. Santana takes a step back but Charlie seems unimpressed as it begins to laugh. ‘ ** _Hehehe_**.’

“Yes. I do. Now leave us alone.” Charlie groans pinching the bridge of his nose, he didn’t need the distractions.

“What _is_ that?” Santana tried not to panic. She’d never seen those creatures before, even in all of her studies and times at Brittany’s reserve. She glances at Antonio who was staring at the creature unsure of what to do. Charlie just looked relatively annoyed.

“Lightning kin,” Charlie supplies and sighs, of course Santana wouldn’t know this. It wasn’t as if most people understood it either. He wasn’t quite sure how it worked himself. He also didn’t really care, so there was that. He was sure someone somewhere had written a book about lightning kin.  “Also known as storm children, night rattlers, and thunder children.”

‘ ** _Play with Sparkies_**.’

‘ ** _Missy Witchy-Witch trick sparkies!_** ’ Another storm child informed him as it appeared on a branch nearby.

‘ ** _Shame! Shame! Bad Missy Witchy-Witch!_** ’’

Santana blinked and looked at Charlie, it wasn’t just the fact that they had pupiless eyes that flashed like lightning and every time that they talked their mouths did the same. Though what creeped her out the most was how they emoted, it was so human in a way, and so childlike. The sound of their voices dug at the back of her mind while also causing her hair to stand on end. But Charlie didn’t seem particularly frightened, or even worried, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t know if they were friend or foe.

Charlie’s lip twitched at that, Brittany had clearly been messing around with the night rattlers. He glances over at Santana for a moment when he feels her brush against him. She was scared, they both were. He bends down and extends his hand for one of the storm children and watches wordlessly as it floats into his hand. “Storm children—”

‘ ** _Sparkies_**.’ The storm child interrupts.

Charlie rolls his eyes and lets the small incorporeal being settles into his hand. “ _Sparkies_ are created whenever lightning hits the ground. They just exist, nature has all sorts of secrets—wild magic. Natural magic—physical in a sense. These things are attracted to me because apparently I’m a living—’

 _‘_ ** _Lightning-boy! Mister lightning-Witcher!_** **’** ’

Charlie sighed, and ran a small visible current from his thumb to his pinkie, watching as the Sparkie, or whatever it was that they decided to call themselves today immediately attempted to catch it. The moment it touched the current another one appeared storm child appeared in his hand. It was how they multiplied.

Antonio’s eyes widened, “That’s _so_ cool, can I hold one?” Antonio asked pulling his hand free from Charlie’s so that he could hold it. “ _Please_?”

“Antonio, I don’t think that’s a good idea—” Santana begins, watching in absolute horror as Charlie hands him one of the Sparkies.  This had not been one of her better ideas as she felt her heart stop. She could feel the danger in her gut and she had forgotten what Charlie thought of as dangerous was not how normal people perceived danger.

“Whoa! It feels weird, and it—tingles!” Antonio said looking at the creature in awe.

The Sparkie peered back at him before smiling wildly that showed it’s flashing white mouth. ‘ ** _Hello! Hello! Man-child!_** ’’

“Hello! Hello! Sparkie,” Antonio repeated pleased with himself.

But Santana didn’t trust it. There was something she couldn’t— “Antonio, get away from that.”

“But it’s cute mom.”

It didn’t stop Santana from smacking the thing from his hand, and she watches as it falls to the ground. “ _Antonio_ what did I—”

‘ ** _Shame! Shame! You hurt Sparkie!_** ’’

‘ ** _Bad Missy Seer-Witchy! Mean to poor Sparkies!_** ’’

Charlie frowned as the night rattlers began to get agitated and he raised his hand, “Enough, you want to play, then we will,” Charlie said with a small frown as he held his hand up and dropped the other Sparkie, “Go find your new Sparkies alright?” Charlie informs them before spinning around so he was facing the opposite direction, he could feel the power building under his fingertips. He flicks his wrist, “Fulgur dolum,” he mutters under his breath, watching as the lighting arches before it races down the path, almost immediately and he feels the night rattlers immediately give chase. The lightning suddenly makes a turn at a ninety degree angle and he waits for a moment looking around, but the area was quiet.

Santana swallows and turns to Charlie angrily, “We just talked about this five minutes ago—”

“Mom it’s okay, see I’m fine!” Antonio interrupted embarrassed. “They were harmless—”

“The night rattlers are not harmless, but you were safe because they find me far more fascinating,” Charlie finally speaks up. He was studying Santana with mild confusion not understanding her irritation. before glancing at Antonio who had taken his hand again.

Santana scowls, she knew what she felt in her gut. “I know what I felt, and I just—I can’t explain it. I just felt danger so I reacted,” she says defensively. She didn’t know why her cheeks were inflamed around him, and she didn’t know what they had meant by Seer-Witchy.  

“Thunder Children don’t see themselves as bad, they just enjoy playing pranks on people, and playing games. But some of their _pranks_ , are dangerous because they really don’t know their own strength at times.” Charlie lectured. “Sparkies don’t _mean_ any harm—”

“ _See_.” Antonio looks to his mom pointedly. He wasn’t some little baby she needed to protect.

“Just because something doesn’t mean any harm doesn’t mean it’s not still dangerous.” Santana cautions.

“They do eat people as well.” Charlie muses as an afterthought. “So your mom isn’t entirely wrong.”

“They _eat people_?” Antonio grabs Charlie’s hand again and tightens his grip. “You said that they weren’t bad!”

“They aren’t bad, and they only eat lost travellers that are silly enough to follow them,” Charlie added with a shrug and winces when Santana smacks his arm hard. “What?”

“You gave my son something that could eat him.”

“A dog can eat him, he’s a dwarf.  You still let him near dogs I imagine.” Charlie responds dryly, “I told you that I’d keep him safe. If I thought it was dangerous I certainly wouldn’t have allowed him to hold one.” Charlie points out.

“You gave him a fire-breathing dragon as a pet, so excuse me if I think that your decision-making when it comes to what is dangerous is and what isn’t is slightly suspect.” Santana snipped at him. She would simply have to trust her gut when it came to stuff like this. Charlie clearly couldn’t be trusted.

Charlie opened his mouth to argue when the sound of an eagle screeching was heard from above and Charlie visibly winced and ducked. “Now _that_ is something to worry about. Come along we need to get too—”

It only takes a second for Lord Tubbington to land hard on the ground in front of them immediately squawking loudly and immediately lunging for him only to be pulled back by Brittany quickly, “What’s up Chuck?” Brittany laughs at her own joke and shifts so she can get off the back of Lord Tubbington. She flicks her eyes to Antonio. “You brought Antonio!”

Charlie eyed Lord Tubbington, not taking his eyes off the beast. “I’m still unsure how that—thing can fly,” he mumbles to himself stumbling back when Lord Tubbington lunges at him. He immediately brings his hand up to defend himself but Brittany shifts so she’s in between them.  

“He flaps his wings.” She answers quickly, petting Lord Tubbington quickly, trying to soften his mood. “But maybe if you didn’t insult him every single time you see him, he wouldn’t get so defensive.”

“He’s _obese_.” Charlie points out, scowling when the gryphon snaps in his general direction. The animal’s belly jiggles at the movement and Charlie shakes his head.

“Be nice.” Brittany stresses and even though he’s not sure if she’s talking to Lord Tubbington or the _bird brain_ over there. “Why are you here anyway?”

“Something tripped my wards,” Charlie responds easily pulling Antonio back from getting a better look. “Or someone, I needed to go over them with you.”

“So you brought the entire family?” Brittany asks bending over. “It’s okay Tony, Lord Tubbington won’t hurt you. He just really doesn’t like Charlie.”

“He sliced open my arm and ate my pet dragon!” Charlie reminds her.

“You insult him, and Lord Tubbington is very sensitive about his weight.” Brittany informs him. “If it’s okay with your mom maybe we can go on a ride—”

“No.” Santana says immediately. “Not okay.”

Brittany pulls a face but doesn’t comment, “—but why don’t you and your mom look around while I help Charlie with his homework?”

“They’re staying with me; they didn’t know about the lightning kin Brittany. If they get lost—”

“Right yeah, bad idea. I can have Mike take you around the grounds or—”

“As much as I trust Mike, I think I want the living lightning bolt over here to stick around just in case things get hairy. There aren’t any cages and I don’t want Antonio getting hurt.”

“I promised to take him to see the dragons,” Charlie adds after Antonio tugs on his hand. “But the wards something was off because nothing has ever tripped a full alarm like that before.”

Brittany sighed, “Fine I’ll help you, though I did tell you that you make them far too sensitive for it to be of any use,” she turns to look at Lord Tubbington when she stops and stares at Santana squinting for a moment. Something was off, slightly., though it could be because Santana felt anxious. But it felt—different somehow. “Alright I’ll take you back to my place, Mike has all the latest video games and he won’t mind playing with you Antonio until I help Charlie figure out what’s wrong,” Brittany said shaking her head and turning to Lord Tubbington. “Shouldn’t take long.”

Santana blew out a breath, feeling the sell of anxiety start to uncoil a little.

~O~

After working through the wards, Charlie was confident that there wasn’t anything wrong with his wards. Maybe they were tripped by accident, but there were thankfully no parts he had overlooked.  “I am still the best magician in the world,” he informed Santana who was watching Mike play with Antonio from the couch. She seemed to be less anxious now.

Santana glanced over at Brittany who rolled her eyes and smiled for a moment, “Did you fix what was wrong?”

“There wasn’t anything wrong, it was probably what I expected originally,” Charlie replied.

Santana frowned, it had probably been her parents who had tripped the damn alarm then. That didn’t make her feel any better, now that she could think about it. She wasn’t sure what their plan was or what they planned to do when it came to Antonio but she wouldn’t let her parents take him away from her. She would start looking for good lawyers just to make sure that Antonio was protected. “I’m sorry my parents caused all of this.”

Charlie shrugged, “It’s fine, but I promised the dwarf I’d take him to see the dragons. So come along Antonio, we’ve got to see the dragons, though they’ll probably be asleep at this time.”

Antonio turned to look at his mom and then Charlie. “Do they all breathe fire too?”

“No, some of them spit acid, others have frost breath—”

“Joy,” Santana said flatly as she watched her son eyes widen, they were in a death trap. She didn’t even know why she had agreed to this. This whole place gave her the creeps and she was worried. At least Charlie seemed to acknowledge her nerves and was taking the correct steps. He was quick to react despite the fact that she occasionally wondered if he was a bit slow.

“Don’t worry the wards are the strongest around the dangerous animal pens, they’re one of the few that are contained. We take safety very seriously here, there hasn’t been an incident in—” Brittany turns to Mike.

“Six years,” Mike supplied. “There was only one and we _learned_ from that.”

“What about Lord Tubbington attacking Charlie?” Santana reminded her.

“They were just playing. They’ve been like that since they were children.” Brittany says waving away Santana’s concern. “They’re like brothers.”

“No. We’re not. That thing is trying to kill me.”

“Lord Tubbington isn’t trying to _kill_ you, he’s just lashing out because he’s sensitive about his weight and you make fun of him. Gryphons are _exceptionally_ intelligent and they understand us you know,” Brittany says immediately defending her beloved pet.  She scowls when even Mike doesn’t take her side, she would make sure he was going to be shovelling unicorn poop for weeks. “Alright we’ve got six dragons, two wyvern’s, four drakes and—well you’ll see. All of these guys need to be contained because they _really_ can’t roam free.”

“What are wyverns?” Antonio asks.

“Well—” Mike begins as they stand up and takes Antonio’s hand as they walk out of Brittany’s cabin, Santana was close on their heels.  “A wyvern is basically in the same family as dragons, it has a dragon head, a similar body to the dragon as well, the difference is that it has two legs instead of four and it has a tail. Most of the ones found today have a fish tail instead of a barbed dragon’s tail, but we have both. It took both Charlie and Quinn to bring the beast in alive.”

“Really? What’s that story?” Antonio asked. Mr. Charlie had the _best_ adventures. He didn’t know why he didn’t tell him more of them. He certainly knew what his next story was going to be about in school.

“There _is_ no story.” Charlie furrows his brow and looks at Brittany pointedly.

Santana looks between the two Fabray's curiously. There was something they weren’t saying.

“Oh come on, Chuck. It’s a great story. Mike, why don’t you tell them how awesome it was.” Brittany grinned, pulling Charlie by his elbow.

Santana notices but is glad when they don’t move too far away. She’s tempted to eavesdrop, but Brittany clearly wants to give Charlie a piece of her mind. She assumes that’s probably torture enough for Charlie and moves in to hear Mike’s tale.

“So what’s this about you not helping Quinn?” Brittany asks lowly.

Charlie rolls his eyes. “I turned down work. It’s hardly a big deal.”

“You turned down work with _Quinn_.” Brittany points out.

“Bounty hunter work is beneath me and I tire of being the judge, jury, and executioner.”

“And it’s not beneath Quinn?”

“No. Quinn’s perfectly suited for magical parking tickets and law enforcement.”

“I would have thought you’d love that with your god-complex.” Brittany rolls her eyes. “You’re so good at maiming first and asking questions later.”

Charlie’s eyes harden. “He deserved that.”

Brittany blows out a frustrated breath. “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” She’s frustrated and tired and hates it when Quinn is upset. It reminds her of—

“Then why did you say it?”

“He was your friend—”

“Quinn is my sister, and you know very well I would have done the same if it had happened to you. Besides, you’re the one that wiped her memory. If anything the reason why Quinn is a terrible magician has more to do with—”

“I was eighteen and she wanted it, and you know that no one else has the skill to do it. I’m not even sure I _could_ do it again. It’s as complicated as _brain_ surgery.” Brittany says defensively. “There may have been—consequences that I didn’t know or think about.” She puffs out her cheeks for a moment. “You’re the one that says she’s a terrible magician.”

“Which she is.”

“She does her best.” Brittany points out, not bothering to disagree with him. It hadn’t always been that way, but— “Maybe you should give her a break.”

“I _gave_ her my assistant.”

Brittany rolled her eyes, of course that was where he went. There were times she wondered if he grew up. “Right you _gave_ her Rachel, just like you _gave_ me Mike.” She flicks her eyes to Santana for a moment and then Antonio before looking at her younger brother, he was busy watching their surroundings like a hawk. “I guess I get it. You have your own family to take care of.”

“The brownies won’t feed themselves,” Charlie responded immediately.

“Wasn’t talking about your brownies,” Brittany shakes her head and smiles before pulling away from him to go and soothe Santana. That anxiety was back again. Maybe it was a mother thing, and her parents wondered when they were getting grandkids. The idea was enough to make her laugh. “Don’t worry you have both me and Charlie making sure Antonio is safe and we spent weeks designing the best wards. This place is safe,” Brittany soothed, touching Santana’s arm, her words laced with magic. She saw Charlie tilt his head at her and frown for a moment before shrugging and letting it go. Being this scared around the creatures wasn’t good it made them restless.


	19. Chapter 19

She had always told herself she wasn’t going to be one of those creepy parents who watched their child sleep, but here she was doing just that. Watching as Spot hopped onto the giant rock that Antonio kept beside his bed on the nightstand. Today had _not_ been a good day, and the anxiety she had been feeling since the previous night hadn’t subsided. Though that probably had _more_ to do with her parents re-entering her life. She was at a loss for what to do, because there was no way that it was over. Her father and mother were very _determined_ people. She didn’t know any lawyers, and she didn’t want to involve the Fabray family anymore than she had already done so.

At least Antonio had fun today despite the fact that she’d nearly had a heart attack when one of the big dragons approached their group. Another creature that seemed to love Charlie, but it meant that Antonio had gotten to pet a dragon that was bigger than he was. He had been scared at first but both Charlie and Brittany had been there in case anything went wrong and he had put his hand on the dragon’s snout and pet it. He had spent the rest of the day _talking_ about it. Wondering if next time he’d be able to fly the thing. The answer to that question was _no_. He had his own pet dragon.

She smiled, Charlie had been right. There was something special about a boy and his dragon, and even though she was still annoyed with him for handing Antonio a pet without her permission, she had to admit that it was fun to watch her son’s relationship with his dragon. Spot had listened to Antonio go on and on about dragons for five minutes before getting bored and attempting to fly away. But of course Antonio had followed her chatting away, completely missing the point until Spot had blown smoke at him. Just watching the two of them had brought a smile to her face and she wondered if Charlie had been similar.

With a sigh, she pulls away from Antonio’s door closing the door so that the light from the hallway wouldn’t disturb him and heads the living room, for once not knowing what to do with herself. She lived above her place of employment, and it’s not like she had a lot of work to do. Which meant that after Antonio went to bed her nights were generally free and tonight she didn’t feel like watching some silly reality television show or the news. Maybe she should go and get her brand new laptop from the store and start doing some research for family law lawyers. It would make her feel better to know that she had taken care of it, and money at this point wasn’t really a problem.

She grabs her keys to the store hoping to god that there wasn’t some creepy shit in the store that Charlie had _‘forgotten’_ to lock up. It wouldn’t matter if he forgot he’d get irritated and blame her for spooking it. The whole thing was infuriating. She pulls the door open to her front door and notes the bright light that came from under Charlie’s door. She’s about to move past it when something small and furry moves in her peripheral vision causing her to stumble back. She tracks it moving across the ground for a few seconds before it disappears.

Mice. Charlie had damn _mice_ in his building, and it was no wonder with the jars of honey and jam that he left out in the open. Brownies, he claimed but she was beginning to doubt that. She shakes her head and immediately heads to Charlie’s door and opens the door without knocking, just to give him a heads up.

She didn’t have to worry about his door being locked. Charlie _never_ locked his door, he believed that it was dangerous for his attention to shift even for a second if he was in the middle of a spell. She personally believed it was for Antonio to come and go as he pleased without needing to knock, and she was grateful that his door was always opened to her son.  Antonio appreciated it as well, but he had learned to stay quiet if Charlie seemed to be in the middle of doing magic. Which judging from the silence in his apartment, he wasn’t.

“Hey Charlie I think we have—” Santana trails off as she stares at her boss sitting on his couch reading one of the many files that she had seen littering his work space and his kitchen table, in only some black silk pajama bottoms. His hair was wet and she could see the water dripping down his neck and onto his bare chest which was surprisingly well-defined for someone who spent most of his time eating an obscene amount of food and reading books. How the hell did he have the beginning of a six pack?

Charlie looks up from what he was reading and closes the folder. “You think we have?” He prompts looking at her. He blinks and looks down at himself, when he notices Santana staring. His cheek flush in embarrassment and he flicks his wrist as a shirt appears and he slips it on. “I apologize. Rachel made it very clear where the line was for sexual harassment.”

Santana blinked as Charlie immediately pulled on a shirt. “It’s fine. It’s your apartment you’re allowed to walk around without a shirt in fact—” she stops for a moment. Charlie was—Charlie teasing him would probably most likely go over his head. “I’m just here to talk about the fact that I think I saw a mouse.”

“You didn’t, you probably saw the Brownies, they’re very _timid_. You probably spooked them.”

“It was furry.”

“Brownies _are_ furry.” Charlie looks up at her and raises a brow. “Are you okay? I only ask because knowing what a Brownie looks like is basic knowledge and considering we share a home with them, I had simply assumed that you had taken the time to meet with them. At the very least thank them. I mean who do you think keeps the store clean?”

Santana scowls at him and opens her mouth to defend herself but nothing really comes out and she shrugs, “I—it’s just been a _long_ day.”

Charlie motions for Santana to take a seat beside him, “It has,” he agrees, he studies her for a moment as she takes a seat on his couch. “Dealing with family is _trying_.”

It was nice, he was trying to be polite about it but she wasn’t didn’t want to hear it. “My parents aren’t—they’re not like yours. They’re about—optics. Having their only daughter get pregnant at sixteen, becoming a single mother who works at a magic shop? It’s not good optics. I mean your parents—”

“They care about the optics; despite what you may think. My father’s displeasure with Mike and Rachel have more to do with the fact that they do not come from _pure_ families. Which means that any niece and or nephew that may show up in the future will not be as powerful as we are. My mother on the other hand doesn’t care she just wants grandchildren, preferably ones that aren’t as powerful as the three of us were when we were children.” Charlie raises his hand and starts a current, that sparks and dances in front of Santana. “Now imagine if the dwarf had powers like these when he was two or three.”

Santana shudders at the thought, Antonio had gone through his terrible twos, but at least he hadn’t been able to do _magic_. “That’s— _different_.”

“Is it?” Charlie questions.

“Yes. It is. Your father may not like Rachel and Mike, but he doesn’t _threaten_ Quinn or Brittany—or you. He doesn’t make you feel—”

“Insignificant?” Charlie scoffed. “Of course he does. My father may be many things, but he does not tolerate ineptitude.”

Santana frowns. “Still, it’s not the same.”

“I guess it’s not.” Charlie allows. “Your parents seemed particularly obsessed with being ordinary and mundane. It’s no wonder you had problems accessing your powers. Now that I’ve met them, it all makes a sort of sense.” He had no doubt that Santana’s entire family probably had some latent magical abilities but it was a shame that she hadn’t had access to training at a young age. She likely would be someone whose abilities could rival his own.

Santana nods, surprised that Charlie actually seems to get it. With a brief hesitation, she admits, “I think they’re going to try and take Antonio away.” It’s been her worst fear for a long time but she’s sure that her parents aren’t going to stop unless they get their way.

“I’m not going to let that happen.”

“You don’t know my parents.”

“No, I don’t. But I’m still not going to let that happen. Antonio is going to be a _magician_. He can’t go back to living a normal ordinary _mundane_ life. He’ll never be happy. He’s going to do _great_ things. So, I’m not going to let that happen. If I need to turn your parents into slugs—”

Santana laughs and places her hand on his, “No. You’re terrible at transmogrification. I don’t want them to explode Charlie.”

“I see.” Charlie responded.

“I was going to find a lawyer and maybe get the best one to represent me,” Santana admits. “So I’m just going to get my laptop and do some research for the best family lawyer in the city. I might need some time to talk to a few lawyers but I’ll let you know before I leave you alone alright?”

Charlie nods and glances down at his hand realizing that Santana’s hand was still in his. He frowns slightly, it felt nice in an odd way. Though he was more concerned about the stomach discomfort that he felt, perhaps a snack would help alleviate the sudden discomfort. He pulls his hand away, and looks at Santana. “If you need anything.”

“I’ll be sure to let you know.” She agrees. For a minute it’s like the panicked anxiety that’s coiled low in her stomach unwinds a little. “But I think it’s probably time for me to try to get some sleep.”

Charlie nods, “I’m going to get a snack and then I’ve got some work to take a look at,” Charlie motions to the manila folder on his lap.

Santana nods, “Thanks for the talk Charlie,” she says after a moment before pushing herself into a standing position. She looks back at Charlie who gives her a quick nod. It was all she was probably going to get and he was probably back in his own little world again. She shakes her head. He really was an _odd_ duckling as Brittany said.

~O~

Antonio was _late_. Santana sighed, it probably meant one of three things. He had gotten in trouble, or he was on cleanup duty, or he was simply being social. She really hoped that it was cleanup duty. At least then she probably wouldn’t be _horrendously_ late for the meeting that Russell had set up for her with one of the best family lawyers in the city. She should have been annoyed at Charlie for involving his father, but she was also touched that he had attempted to take care of it for her.

She checks her watch again and sighs with relief when Antonio emerges from the building. She almost worries that her parents were going to come and ambush them or—

“Hello again.” A familiar voice startles her from her musings.

Despite the fact she doesn’t really like him, nor does she have the time for pointless conversation, she smiles politely. “Noah, right.”

His grin is almost menacing but he nods enthusiastically. “I was wondering when I would see you again. Tell me you weren’t avoiding me.”

“Of course not.” She lies. She _had_ been avoiding him, but then again it had just been a couple of days and she hasn’t really had time to actually worry about it.

“So when are we going to go on our first date?” He asks with pointed interest that she’s sure is supposed to be charming.

“I have to take Antonio home and then—”

“I have Beth too, so I _will_ meet you at the diner around the corner in twenty minutes.”

Santana was about to scowl at him. She didn’t like being told what to do by anyone and she didn’t have time for this, for him. She had an important meeting that she needed to get too. But in that moment, the anxiety that she’d been feeling since she met him came back with a vengeance. “Yeah—sure that sounds great—” She informs him and her eyes widen.

Noah studies her for a moment, before frowning slightly.  There was panic in her eyes that didn’t usually come until later, but he immediately straightens up. “Well, this is interesting,” he muses mostly to himself. He hadn’t anticipated her being aware of his machinations. “I’ll see you at that diner, you’ll wear something _nicer_ than what you’re wearing,” he informed her bluntly reaching to touch her. “But most importantly you’ll _smile_ and you’ll make sure everyone around you thinks you’re _fine_ and you won’t tell _anyone_ about this. Not your parents, not your son, none of the Fabray’s and definitely not Charlie Fucking Fabray.” He snarls the name before pushing a smile onto his face. “Think of an excuse, think of _several_ that won’t make him suspicious. I don’t really care or what I’m doing to you I _will_ do to your son.”  

“ _Daddy_!”

Noah turns and smiles at the blonde haired little girl who is running towards him with her arms outstretched. “Hey there Beth!” he says in a pleased tone, the anger and the menacing look disappearing immediately as he reached down to wraps his daughter in his arms. He glances at Santana once more and flashes her a smile. “See you soon.”

Santana stared at Noah as he winked at her before walking away, wanting to scream or yell or do something but whatever he had done to her—she hadn’t seen his hands moving, she hadn’t heard any spell words but it was magic. He had used magic on her an _insidious_ form of magic. One that _forced_ her to obey.

“Hey mom! Guess what I did in school today,” Antonio said as he finally exited the school. He grins when his mom smiles at him widely. It was a bit weird but maybe she’d had a good day at work and Mr. Charlie had done something cool. “I told everyone about the _dragons_ and how I got to touch one, and then we played kickball and I kicked the ball _really_ hard.”

“That’s great Tony,” Santana tried, she never wanted to worry her son but she couldn’t even use him to get help. To talk to Charlie, the words simply wouldn’t come out. “We’ve got to hurry okay Antonio? I have an important meeting soon.” It was the best she could do. She would need to figure out how to tell _someone_ anyone.


	20. Chapter 20

Antonio glanced up from where he was sitting doing his homework, Charlie had allowed him to sit where his mom usually worked. He had given him the _important_ responsibility of watching the customers. Though the shop was empty. It was still fun to pretend that he had his own shop like Mr. Charlie and he could wave his hands and summon dragons as pets. Though, Brittany had an awesome job too. She got to play with all the magical animals. He had seen a _unicorn_. It hadn’t been very nice though.

Antonio kicked his legs a bit watching as Spot ate her food and reached over to pet her. It was almost his birthday and he hoped that he could have a party for all the kids in his class this year.  They could never afford it before, but he was sure his mom wanted to do something. All he knew was that he wanted Mr. Charlie would give another magic show for his friends, he had promised that Mr. Charlie would do some magic. Though if he had a choice between Mr. Charlie doing a magic show or giving him another pet dragon, he would choose the dragon even though he totally knew his mom would say no.

The door to the store opens, jingling and Antonio looks up and smiles at the tall man who lumbers into the store. “Welcome to Pandora’s Antique—antiquities,” Antonio said in a cheery tone, catching himself. He hoped he had done a good job and he glances over at Spot who had stopped eating and moved closer to him and was staring at the lumbering stranger.

The man lumbered towards the store counter and looked at Antonio squinting his eyes. “I’m going to need bone seed, star shade, kraken scale, wendigo fur and chitine fang.” He pulls out a small notepad and looks at it carefully. “Oh! And Naga venom.”

Antonio stared at the tall man, his eyes wide. That didn’t sound like something that he could help with. “Um—”

“Nice dragon,” the man said reaching to pet Spot only for Spot to immediately blow a fireball at him.

“ _Spot no_!” Antonio yelled horrified, he was going to get in so much trouble. He immediately tried to pick up his pet only for Spot to flex her wings, and stand on her hind quarters trying to make herself seem bigger. It was enough to cause the man to take a reflexive step back and hold his hand up, prepared to blast the creature away. Antonio grabbed his pet and immediately turned his body so that he could protect Spot despite the fact that she immediately struggled against him, her wings smacking him hard as she hissed and spat.

The noise is enough to finally draw Charlie from his workspace and he immediately moves to intervene flicking his wrist at the newcomer sending him flying back and placing his fingers on a spot behind Spot’s horns immediately calming her as she stops struggling. He moves to pull Spot away so that he can take a closer look at Antonio, who looked a tad bit frightened by Spot’s reaction. He winces when he sees a trail of blood from where one of Spot’s claws snagged Antonio’s arm. Santana was going to be very angry with him. “Are you alright?”

Antonio nods, as he struggles not to cry in front of Mr. Charlie, watching as the magician knelt down to inspect him carefully. “Spot blew fire at him! I was just trying to stop her from hurting your customer. I’m sorry!” He babbled quickly feeling the hot tears in his eyes.

Charlie hummed and opened one of the drawers and grabbed a jar filled with purple goop and opens it smearing a healthy amount onto Antonio’s arm. He crinkles his nose at the smell. “Spot sensed danger, you remember what Brittany taught you about dragons don’t you?”

Antonio shook his head; he couldn’t remember but maybe it was because he was a tiny bit scared.

Charlie didn’t look annoyed at Antonio’s inability to remember, he just watched the purple goop working. “You can’t just walk up to someone's dragon any dragon and just _pet_ it. They don’t like it, especially if you’re a tall man asking for dangerous items. Spot sensed that you were in danger and she reacted, you need to let her protect you okay? Because she’ll fight you to protect you and that doesn’t make much sense does it?” Antonio shook his head and immediately latched his arms around Charlie’s neck hugging him tightly. Charlie blinked and patted Antonio’s back awkwardly. “Okay, alright. I know. I know,” he said before petting Antonio on the head. He wasn’t quite sure what to do in this situation, there were no notes for this sort of thing. “We’ll go for some ice cream after?”

Antonio sniffled and nodded his head wiping his eyes, with his non-goopy arm. He stares at the goop on his arm and touches it. “What is it?”

“I don’t know. My mom makes it,” Charlie admits and crinkles his nose. “It’s her special formula, we’ll talk to her later and ask.”

Antonio nods and slides off the chair to go check on Spot, “I’m sorry,” he mumbles to his pet.  He reaches his hand out slowly and smiles when Spot allows him to pet her head.

Charlie watched for a moment before getting up, a frown on his face as he approached the man who still a bit stunned. His hands sparked as he made his approach. “Who the hell are you?”

The men held up his hands, “I’m Finn. I’m just trying to get a few ingredients and my assistant said that you were the only shop in the area that carried what I needed.”

Charlie narrowed his eyes at that most magicians didn’t usually go shopping for their own supplies. “I see. And why would you need those items? What exactly do you plan to do with them?” He had the items in stock, but only because he rarely had to undo curses. People had varying views of what magic was, as if it was either good or evil. It wasn’t, it just was. It was like a storm, or a wild animal, there was no intent in its existence. But he _knew_ of bad people and he wasn’t going to simply give controlled and dangerous magic to some idiot who had approached a dragon without permission.

Finn furrowed his brow and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper to check and make sure he wasn’t mistaken. Nope, there they were written down word for word in his own handwriting. He knew that was right because his assistant had checked it three times before he let Finn out of the office. “I’m making a complicated spell. My assistant said these were the ingredients I needed.”

Charlie chews the inside of his lip. “I don’t have the ingredients you’re looking for. Those are _controlled_ substances and I don’t deal in that.” He said briskly. “Now if you’ll please vacate my shop, you’ve done enough damage, and my assistant is probably going to make me clean this up.”

“Can’t you just get the dwarf to do it?” He asks, gesturing to Antonio who was still recovering in the corner.

“Dwarf?” Charlie pinches the bridge of his nose. Despite the fact that everyone in his life was fairly certain he didn’t know the difference, he could clearly discern a child from a dwarf. He just liked to play up his natural awkwardness in the hopes that they would all leave him alone. But whoever this charlatan of a magician was, he was an embarrassment to the craft. “He’s a child.”

“Oh.” Finn said scratching his cheek. “Well your son then, can’t you make him clean up? That’s why people have kids.”

Charlie twitched, “I already told you to that I don’t have the items that you require. Now _perhaps_ you should leave before I am forced to throw you out of my shop.” He didn’t want Santana to start yelling at him about showing Antonio it was okay to use force, but this whole thing didn’t sit right with him.

“Alright. Alright.” Finn said getting himself up. “You know, I think you’d get more customers if you were nicer,” he throws over his shoulder as he opens the door. He pauses and stares at the short woman who had just been about to enter the store. “Hey, I uh—think they’re closed.” He offers her.  

She rolls her eyes but smiles apologetically. “Of course they are. Please feel free to come another day.” She doesn’t turn around before storming into the shop and slamming the door behind her.

Finn frowned. That hadn’t gone quite like he expected. His assistant would have to move to plan B, whatever that was.  

Rachel enters the store and stares at the mess, “What in the world?”

Charlie turns to Rachel from where he is bent over looking at Antonio’s arm. He studies for a moment, “I’ve got everything under control.”

“ _Really_. That’s what you’re going with,” Rachel moved over to take a closer look at Antonio. “Are you okay?”

Antonio nods, “Yeah, Spot just scratched me but it was an accident,” he promises holding up his goop covered arm. “Mr. Charlie said that he’d take me for ice cream.”

Rachel flicked her eyes over the mess, it wasn’t just anything. “I can take you for ice cream Antonio, Charlie has a job—”

“No. I don’t. Santana’s not back yet, and given what happened today I promised Antonio that _I_ would take him out for ice cream. I also promised Santana that _I_ would watch him. I haven’t done a very good job of that.” He muses.

Antonio shrugs before smiling at him. “I won’t tell mom if you promise to perform magic at my birthday party!”

Charlie shrugged, “Okay.”

Rachel blinked. “Not okay! You can’t do magic in front of a bunch of mundanes!”

“I do magic in front of you and Mike all the time,” Charlie points out watching as Rachel flushes angrily.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. You know very well it’s against the rules.”

“Yes, raising the dead and reattaching limbs in front of mundanes is illegal, I’m doing card tricks. People think it’s fake. It’s all perfectly legal.”

“No it’s not.”

“It’s close enough.”

“ _Charlie_. Do you realize how much trouble you can get into?”

“Yes. I don’t care.” Charlie shrugs. “It’s card tricks. The boy wants to see some harmless magic. It’s not as if real magician’s haven’t cashed in on ‘illusions’ before.”

“That’s not the point Charlie. Your sister is in magical law enforcement. You really think you would just get a _free pass_?”

Charlie shrugs. “Like she could stop me even if she wanted to.” He hums, and looks at Antonio who is looking at him curiously. “Quinn needs my help with something I imagine?”

“She does, which is why I’m here. I thought that I could watch the store.”

“No. I’ll wait until Santana is back. I’m not letting the dwarf out of my sight. Quinn can wait. I don’t like it. My wards get tripped and then some _idiot_ magician comes in and asks for Kraken scale and some other nasty items and you expect me to what drop everything and help her? It’s not happening. Something’s not right and I don’t know what.” Charlie grumbles.

“Mr. Charlie, if you’re going to get in trouble—”

“It’s fine.” Charlie promised him and glared at Rachel. Today had started off normal but it was _not_ going well. It probably couldn’t get any worse. He sighs when the phone rings and he reaches to pick it up. “Pandora’s antiquities hold on—”

_‘Charles if you put me on hold, I will have to come down there and we both don’t want that.’_

“Father.”

‘ _Is Santana there? She didn’t show up for her meeting with the lawyers and I was under the opinion that this was important. These are important people and they don’t like to be kept waiting.’_  

“I see.” Charlie says keeping his voice even. He didn’t like this at all and that irritating discomfort was back in the pit of his abdomen. He was worried. He didn’t like the feeling but he knew better than to worry Antonio. “Cancel the meeting for now.”

‘ _Charles_?’

“Something’s not quite right and I don’t see the bigger picture. I don’t like it. I don’t like this at all. I need to think. I’ll have her call you later.” Charlie says ending the call. He turns to Rachel for a moment. She had no magic but she knew his defenses relatively well. “Take Antonio to my apartment and keep him there. Spot—I need you too—”

The door to the store opens and Charlie turns frowning when he sees Santana standing there, staring at the mess of a store. “What _happened_?” She snapped turning to Charlie angrily.

Charlie stares at Santana for a moment. “Nothing?” He says after a moment.

“Then why in the world does Antonio have purple slime on his arm?” Santana snaps at Charlie.

Charlie studies Santana for a moment, he couldn’t shake that something was wrong, but he scratches the back of his head. “We had a rather unruly customer. I handled it. We’re okay right Antonio?”

Antonio nods and holds out his arm. “It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

Santana stared at Charlie and then her son before grabbing his arm and pulling him away from Charlie. “Let’s go.”

Charlie frowned at the harshness in her voice. Wincing as he saw her pull Antonio’s arm. She had never been that rough with him. “Hold on, I need to get the goop off,” Charlie said managing to get Santana to stop for a moment and turn to him. “I’ll clean up the store too,” he adds before approaching Antonio reaching into his pockets and pulling out the powerful ward that he made just for him. He runs his hand over the goop carefully and slips it into Antonio’s hand. “Keep it with you alright?” He whispers in his ear before patting him on the head and getting up. “There all done.” He keeps his face neutral as Santana yanks Antonio to his room. Something was definitely _not_ right.


	21. Chapter 21

Santana tried to ignore the pounding in her chest as she smiled at a customer and took a seat quietly in an empty part of the coffee shop that she was in. She had no idea what she was supposed to do next, all she knew was that her body wasn’t her own anymore. The words that came out of her mouth—some of them weren’t hers anymore, it was a violation like nothing she had ever felt before. She was terrified of what he would do. What he _could_ do to her and it made her hate him for it. It made her hate herself for it; for being weak, for being powerless to stop herself from following his every whim.

She didn’t even understand how he was doing it. The only thing that she could guess was that Noah was like Brittany in a way, at least he his discipline was the same as Brittany’s but Brittany had never made her do things against her will. She had always believed that Charlie’s discipline was the most powerful one out there. It’s what Terri had led her to believe, it’s what Charlie had led her to believe but she doubted that even he could stand against this.

Today was yet another example of Noah’s ability. Here she was, meeting him for a coffee after giving Charlie some believable lie. For a moment she had thought that he had realized something was off, that he’d _test her_ or do _something_ to figure it out, but he had only nodded and let her carry on with her life. She had to wonder if she was going to spend the rest of her life worrying about how to regain control and attempting to keep her son out of this mess.

He slumps down onto the seat beside her and offers a sideways grin. “Don’t look so bored, Hot Ass, we're making plans and not even that idiot Fabray can stop us.”

She mentally groans, could he be any more like some comic book villain? But that’s not the first hint she’s had that he has some sort of history with Charlie. Resigned that she’s not going to be able to do much more than this, she decides that at least she can get some answers. But she’s going to have to be careful because she definitely doesn’t want to piss him off. “What plans?”  

Noah frowned slightly, “You _really_ have no idea who I am? Or what he _did_ to me?” He scowls and looks at his broken hands. “Of course not, because nothing can touch _that_ family.”

“No, I don’t know who you are. I don’t _care_ to know who you are. If you have some sort of blood feud with Charlie, then take it up with him. I don’t know why you need to bring me or my son into it. You have a daughter don’t you?”

Noah turned to her a look of disdain painting his features. “Don’t you dare bring _her_ into this. You don’t even know the _real_ him. You don’t have any idea what he’s capable of, but I bet you think he’s just some _idiot_ savant or something.”

Santana sipped on her coffee, trying to pick the correct words, “I never once thought Charlie was an idiot, I think that he doesn’t quite know what to make of certain social situations and would rather be in his workshop then dealing with people. Again, if he hurt you—”

“We were _friends_ once, roommates—I had his back when the others picked on him for being weird, because that’s what he was. He was _odd_ and powerful, and we’re not evolved. Children can be _cruel_ , not that it bothered him. We were destined to be the two greatest magicians in history.”

“He should be grateful to you then.” She surmises, trying to stroke his ego. He seemed like the type of person that needed constant validation.

“You would think so.” Noah agrees and Santana’s glad that she seems to at least have some sort of footing here. “He knew about my gifts and he didn’t give a fuck. I was great, _unstoppable_. With a flick of my wrist, I could bend reality to my whims. I was a _god._ ”

Santana shivers at the thought. “But you’re still so powerful—”

“Hardly. It wasn’t until—” He trails off, his eyes narrowing and a fire burns behind his eyes that makes Santana shift in her chair uncomfortably, “—well it doesn’t matter, because he fucking betrayed me. After everything I did for him, every damn time I stood up for him and protected him. After _all_ of that he crushed my hands so I couldn’t ever do real magic again. And then I became _this_.” He growls as he looks down at the mangled skin around his hands. “A fucking shell of who I used to be.”

Santana swallows, he wasn’t going to reveal his master plan which was fine. She needed to figure out a way to alert Charlie, or someone a Fabray. “I don’t know why you need me then. Charlie is—Charlie, I’m just his assistant. The only reason he’ll care is because his last two assistants left which means he’ll be forced to deal with people. So just let me go—”   

Noah scoffed, she had no idea how valuable she was. “You’re wrong. I _do_ need you. His wards—”

Santana held up her hands to stop him. “If you think I know how to disable his wards, you’re mistaken. I don’t even know where he hides them,” it was partly true. She knew where he hid one of them, but some of them were so big, and she had to believe that Charlie would know when someone was messing with his wards.

Noah scowled, even in his state he could feel those wards, it made his hands ache in ways that shouldn’t even be possible. “You’re right, he was always paranoid, it was probably why he wouldn’t sell Finn the damn ingredients—” Noah pauses. “You’re his assistant you’d be able to bypass any of his wards; you can bring them to me.”

Shit. She hadn’t thought he would be so brazen— “It’s not like Charlie trusts me. I wouldn’t even know where to find what you’re looking for.”

“ _Don’t_ lie to me,” Noah snaps at her.

Santana bit her tongue immediately, she had pushed him too far, and that order had cost her deeply she’d need to be more careful with what she told him. “I’m not lying; I don’t know where to find what you’re looking for. I just _learned_ about magic recently, the only thing Charlie did was to childproof his store to protect me from myself, so he wouldn’t have to watch me like a child all the time. So if you think I know where his powerful ingredients are then you’re mistaken.”

Noah inhales deeply, “Then why do I need you exactly?” He demands.

The threat hangs in the air clearly and Santana gulps. She didn’t want to help him but she had no idea how far his powers stretched and she needed to think about Antonio. If she died—what would happen to him. “I don’t know what happened between you and Charlie, I know he hurt you but I just needed a job to support my son. That’s it, he offered me money and it was a god send for a single mother. You have a daughter—I don’t know if you know what it’s like to struggle but I couldn’t even give him a proper birthday party. This is his first year where I can give him a party that he’ll remember.”

“A birthday party?” Noah presses before slowly smiling. All wasn’t lost, and Charlie was far too arrogant, like the laws that governed the Magicians didn’t apply to him. It was the only reason he had even _found_ Charlie to begin with, he had been performing magic in front of children. Children who were too stupid and young to realize that Charlie Fabray was just a hack.


	22. Chapter 22

"Charlie? What are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you for another month." Brittany leans against the doorframe to her office and crosses her arms over her chest in amusement. He's probably gotten himself into some mess and she can't wait to hear him grovel.

Charlie stopped pacing in Brittany's office, a scowl still on his face. He's been waiting _forever_ for Mike to be able to track her down. What kind of magician wasn't readily available during business hours? "What took you so long?"

"You've only been here for about five minutes." Brittany reminds him.

"But this is _urgent_."

Brittany rolls her eyes. "Everything is urgent when you need it. I didn't expect to see you for another month or so. I thought you would have had your fill of our family bonding."

"I'm not here for family bonding. I'm—" He blows out a frustrated breath, "I'm worried."

Brittany's eyes narrow and she pulls her office door shut behind her and moves to her desk. Charlie is arrogant, egotistical and barely able to function in social situations. She's seen him during all sorts of stressful situations, but she's never seen him _actively_ worried about anything. "About what? I thought we already established that your wards were fine."

"There's something off with Santana. She's acting weird." He runs his hand through his short clipped hair.

Brittany smirks. "I don't know that _you're_ the authority on what's weird and what's not, Chuck."

"No. It's not—She's not acting normal. It's like, maybe she's not acting oddly. Maybe it's just that womanly lunar session—"

"Womanly lunar session? You've got to be kidding me." Brittany scoffs. How is it that he's grown up with two sisters and is still so oblivious? It would almost be amusing if it wasn't so pathetic. "It's called menstruation. Or a period."

"But it seems like it's _more_ than that." Charlie stresses. "She's completely changed her attitude about her parent's infiltrating her life. She's completely disregarded picking the dwarf up from school on _three_ occasions. It's just—something is wrong."

Maybe it's the urgency in his voice or the fact that she's never seen him act this way that makes her stop and listen. She's learned by now to listen to his instincts. "What do you think is wrong?"

"Part of me worries that I have offended her somehow."

Brittany nods, that's just as likely as anything else. "And the other part?"

"I think it's Puck."

For a minute, Brittany forgets to breathe, all air feels like it's forcibly pushed from her lungs. "Puck? Why?"

"The look in her eyes—it reminded me of her."

"Of Quinn?"

Charlie nods emphatically. He doesn't have a lot of regrets in his life. He's one of the most brilliant magicians in the world and he doesn't have a lot to apologize for. But the guilt about Quinn, about _Noah_ is something he's not sure he can live with. Brittany is the only other person who still knows, but the idea that Santana too could be a victim of—he shakes his head and tries to ignore the uncomfortable nausea that threatens to bubble up against his will.

"Maybe it's not him?" Brittany offers hopefully, gulping down even as she feels her own panic rising. She had always hoped that they would never have to worry about Noah Puckerman again. "It's _probably_ not him."

"You're right of course, Puck can't do _magic_ not after what I did to him—"

"You didn't do enough as far as I was concerned," Brittany mutters to herself.

Charlie made a face and looked at his hands, "I took away a magician's greatest gift—I made him for the most part _mundane_. He doesn't get to feel that raw power in his hands anymore. He's certainly not powerful enough to come after me, he _should_ know better. Besides Santana's abilities—I'm unsure what to make of it. The Thunder children called her a seer, it's rare magic but I was under the opinion that it was under the umbrella of psychic abilities. Which means that his abilities shouldn't be able to _work_ on her, they certainly never worked on you."

"They never worked on you either, my abilities don't even work on you, I'm not sure if it's because your element provides a protective measure or if it's because you're on the spectrum somewhere," Brittany muses, she'd never tested the theory out. Charlie did seem to operate on a different wavelength than other people.

"Spectrum?"

Brittany blinked and flicked her eyes back to him, she wasn't going to have the conversation with him now. It was far too early and she wasn't quite sure if she would offend him. "Never mind, you might have inadvertently awakened Santana's powers with your stupid stunt—you're lucky that you didn't get caught by the way, but they're still _latent_ relatively speaking she has no control over them. She certainly doesn't have the basic defenses that she needs to protect herself."

"I can't teach her the basic defenses because I never learned them," Charlie admits, he had never needed to. His mind seemed to be protected from psychic attacks as far as he knew. "I can however make her wards—"

"Which I've told you is not your smartest idea, sure it'll stop ninety percent of psychics, but the powerful ones—like myself can break through them, and the brute force that will require will not only mess with her mind, but alert any psychic that you are trying to stop them. If Santana _is_ being manipulated by Puck, then it would only put her in more danger."

Charlie frowns. "But my wards are different."

"Please I could rip past your wards if I wanted to, and the force that it would take—it's easier to simply learn how to put up psychic defenses, it's safer and more importantly you _can feel_ most attacks. So you're aware it's happening."

"I'm aware, but whatever it is I have a natural resistance to it, it was never important for me to learn how to defend myself against psychics—"

"Which is why you didn't notice all the women?"

"I've seen you and Mike naked before, I've seen Quinn and Rachel naked, none of which makes sense to me because you aren't _procreating_ —"

"Sex feels good, and it isn't just for procreating," Brittany interrupts shaking her head. "Look, I'm not going to draw you a Venn diagram about this so you can understand it especially because when you finally want to lose your virginity it'll be fucking hilarious."

Charlie made a face and crossed his legs, "How do I check if it's Noah? Perhaps I should follow her?"

"Women— _people_ don't generally like stalkers Charlie—"

"I promised that I'd keep her safe, how am I supposed to do that if I don't keep her close by?" Charlie interrupts. "Perhaps if I—"

"No. Stop whatever it is that you're thinking, have you thought about _asking her_?" Brittany asks.

Charlie grumbled and pulled out his cue cards, "I did, but the words weren't in the pile. Rachel made it very clear to keep Santana as my assistant, I needed to let her breathe or _something_. It's all very hard to keep track of. Also why I'm here, since you're an empath. I was thinking you could write it down so I can ask her—"

"No. Communicating with people is something you learn as children. Something which you're terrible at and everyone around you enables your terrible social skills. Half the time I think you do it on purpose. You like Santana, I am not going to be your _go between_ unless it is an emergency. I don't think this is an emergency."

Charlie grunted at her, this is why he didn't talk to his family. They always expected him to help out even if he thought it was a terrible idea. "You—"

"I married Mike. I didn't steal him from you, we fell in love and got married. It happens, obviously to you a lot more than usual. Perhaps if you learned to _talk_ to people," Brittany interrupts going back to looking at her work.

Charlie made a face and looked at the time, he had told Santana that he was going to pick up Antonio anyway. "We'll continue this discussion later."

"It probably would be easier if you had a phone," Brittany points out and grins when Charlie stomps out. He always had been the baby of the family.


	23. Chapter 23

Antonio spins on the swivel chair in Charlie's back room. "Could you make an elephant disappear?"

"Of course." Charlie shrugs. Antonio has been trying to iron out the finer points of his birthday party magic show for the last several hours. "But the question is, do we have room for an elephant in the first place?"

The thought makes Antonio frown. His party was going to be held here at the shop, there definitely wasn't enough room for an elephant. "What about a miniature elephant?"

Charlie rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Definitely. It's the only solution." He agrees.

"Do you know where we can get a baby elephant?"

"What if we just take a normal sized elephant and shrink it?" Charlie offers. Baby elephants seemed like they would be a lot of work. Plus, he didn't want to have to deal with taking a small infant elephant from its mother. "Also, what do you mean by 'disappear'. I can turn it invisible, or I can turn it into a mouse—we probably shouldn't do that it might explode."

Antonio stops spinning, his eyes growing wide. " _Really_?"

"Yes, that's not a good thing. I don't think your mom would appreciate if I accidentally killed an elephant in front of all your friends. Perhaps we should think of something else. How about if I saw you in half? No, your mother might kill me if it goes horribly wrong. How about I just do some lightning tricks?"

"Or summon a dragon?" Antonio offers.

"Your mother said no—"

"Well then how about a bunny? Everyone likes bunnies, and a dragon is too scary for the girls," Antonio nods sagely.

"I don't like bunnies."

"But it's my birthday!" Antonio insists. "Please Mr. Charlie?"

Charlie frowns slightly, he truly didn't _like_ rabbits. They were creepy, especially the albino ones with the blood red eyes. There was no possible way that they weren't secretly plotting to take over the world. "Are you _sure_ your mother said it's okay for me to do magic at your party—also are you sure that she said that you can have it in the store?"

Antonio scratches his head, "She said it was okay, but I don't really think she was listening to me—why can't we have it here?"

"Because my shop has dangerous things in it, and your mother knows that," Charlie mused mostly to himself, there was no way that he could childproof the store completely. "Why don't we do it at my parents place? There's plenty of space and perhaps Brittany can bring over one of the baby unicorns that was just born."

"That could be cool." Antonio admits.

"Antonio—" Santana's sharp tone startles both of them. "What are you doing back here?"

"Charlie and I were just talking about my party." Antonio defends. His mom has been grumpy lately and for some reason he seems to constantly find himself in trouble. "He said that maybe aunt Brittany can bring the baby unicorns so that we can see them. They don't have their horns yet, so it's okay right mom?" He pauses and looks over at Charlie. "Do you think she can bring other creatures? The thunder babies? Just one or two?"

Charlie looked up at Santana, "I think you need to ask your mother—"

"It's fine." Santana brushes off Charlie's concern, her eyes narrowed on Antonio. "Is your homework done? Because maybe we won't have a party _at all_."

Antonio's face pales and he slides off the stool. "It'll be done real quick." He promises quickly.

Charlie watches him go with a frown. He was still sure that something was wrong and despite what Brittany had to say he was going to find out. "Is this about your parents?" He guesses. Santana has been irritable.

"Yeah, sure." She dismisses lightly, huffing out an annoyed breath. "Sorry that he was bugging you."

Charlie narrows his eyes skeptically. "He wants me to summon dragons, which as you know I'm perfectly okay doing that but I wasn't sure if you'd want me to."

Santana pauses for a moment, "You know what, it's his birthday and it should be special. Just—just do whatever you think will make him happy."

Charlie tilts his head reaching into his pocket to pull out his coin and causing it to spin in the air above his hand as he studies Santana. "He wants me to make an elephant explode."

Santana shifted nervously, "Look, Charlie, I'm sure you can figure out what Antonio can have at his party and what he can't. I trust your judgement on that. So I'm going to go back to do inventory because apparently that's a thing that you don't do according to Rachel."

The coin dropped out of Charlie's hand at the statement and he's up on his feet before Santana can leave the room. "Santana wait." He frowns when she looks at him an annoyed look on her face. "I know this isn't my place, but you've been acting very odd. Like, you haven't been yourself. Normally you'd yell at me for wanting to do something dangerous but now you seem—apathetic isn't the right word—you're not supposed to let me do whatever comes to my mind. Especially not when it comes with the dwarf because he's important to you."

Santana pinched the bridge of her nose, "I've just got a lot on my mind. Antonio likes you and you're not absolutely _terrible_ when it comes to children. So I just need you to—help out a bit more than you have."

"Of course, because of the lawyer and your parents," Charlie nods his eyes searching Santana's face.

Santana nods at his statement, "Right, I just need to get everything squared away. Make sure that my parents don't try anything. I know that I haven't been as present lately but Antonio is the most important person in the world to me."

"I know." Charlie said with a smile before moving his hand quickly and touching her forehead. "I always found it easier to ask for forgiveness then to ask for permission." He says as she tries to pull back. " ** _Uinak_**." He moves quickly catching Santana in his arms as her body crumples, catching her before she hits the ground. He pauses studying her carefully, if he was wrong he had just lost another assistant. But at this point he needed to be sure. He shifts his body so he can carry her fireman style back to her apartment.

"Mr. Charlie can you help me with my—" Antonio stopped and stared at the sight of his mom in Mr. Charlie's arms. "What happened to mom! Is she okay? Is she sick!"

Charlie flicks his eyes towards Antonio, he had _not_ thought this through. "Your mother will be fine Antonio, I just put her to sleep for now. I'm going to need to call Brittany, and perhaps my mother, but I promise you that she'll be okay. I told your mom that I'd keep you both safe and that's what I'm doing. Even if she doesn't like my methods. So how about you help me by locking the store and making sure that the sign is on closed alright?"

"You did magic on her?"

"A little sleep spell, I need to make sure that someone else hasn't been using magic on your mom." Charlie sighed as he watched Antonio to make sure that he did exactly as he instructed. "Unfortunately the magic that I think was used is _not_ my specialty. But I will make sure your mother is okay I promise."

Antonio nods as he flips the sign over and rushes back to Charlie's side to make sure his mom was okay and reaches for her hand. Stopping when Charlie adjusts her in his arms. "Can I help?"

"Yes, with the doors Antonio. We're going to get her into your apartment and put her on the couch and then we're going to call Brittany. She's the only person I know that can help me fix this," Charlie responds moving slowly with Santana in his arms. It would be simple to use his abilities to levitate her but he didn't want to. He should have kept her closer to make sure that no harm befell on her. And if his assumptions were right then there would be _nothing_ on this planet that would stop him from breaking the ones responsible.

~O~

Antonio answers the door before Brittany can knock a second time. "Is my mom going to be okay?" He asks impatiently.

She sighs and pats him gently on the shoulder. "Let me see her first." She should have brought Mike along, but baby unicorns required a ton of attention. She spots Charlie sitting on the coffee table his brows furrowed as he stared at Santana. He probably didn't notice the dragon on his shoulder. "You had better be right about this Charlie."

Charlie frowns and looks up at Brittany, "When have I ever been wrong?"

"The various times that you caused things to explode—don't worry Charlie's not going to make your mom explode. That's why I'm here," Brittany said quickly to assuage any fears that Antonio might have. She frowns and looks at Santana's sleeping form. "I told you that it's probably nothing—if your paranoia costs you a perfectly good assistant mom and dad are going to step in."

"She said she _trusted me_."

Brittany stopped, her brother was the biggest idiot in the world. Of course it was probable that he finally understood that his personality did not make him the best caretaker in the world. That he was barely competent at most social interactions. "She makes you babysit Antonio and allows you to pick him up from school—"

"Brittany, I'm telling you that something is wrong. So if you're not going to do it and make sure I'll have to find someone else. If I'm wrong, then _I'm_ wrong and you can put all the blame on me." Charlie snaps at her.

"It doesn't work like that. You have to understand Charlie, we're not kids anymore and this isn't our sister. Invading her thoughts to make sure it's not—" She glances at Antonio and stops herself, " _him_ , it's a violation. If we're wrong—"

"We're not—I'm not. Why don't you just trust me?"

Brittany rolls her eyes. "Let's just get this over with." Brittany sighs and makes her way to the couch where Santana has been haphazardly draped across. "Seriously? You didn't even prop up her head. _This_ is precisely why I don't trust you."

Charlie folds his arms over his chest. "I asked you to come here for your help, not to criticize me. So get on with it."

With a huff, she sits down on the couch beside Santana and puts her fingers to Santana's temples. She's a powerful empath but she wants to limit any potential interference. She closes her eyes and tries to separate through the thoughts and through the memories.

Antonio moved to grip Charlie's hand tightly, tugging on it. He didn't understand anything that was going on but Charlie seemed to be focused on making his mom better. "I don't understand, is she like sick?"

Charlie glances down at Antonio and turns so he can bend down and be at eye-level with the boy. "Has your mom been talking to anyone _new_ , that you didn't know before?" Charlie questions. It might be easier to pull the information from Antonio then wait for Brittany to confirm what he already knows to be true.

"Uh—my mom has been making me spend time with Beth—we walk home together sometimes. Her dad has a weird haircut, and I think he _likes_ my mom but I don't really like him. I don't like Beth either, she's mean."

Charlie nodded, it could be him—but even Noah couldn't be _that obvious_. "This man, are his hands—"

"Oh yeah, mom said I shouldn't really look but his hands are _super_ weird and broken and stuff. He can't do a lot of things; I'm not allowed to say anything about it." Antonio frowned. "He asked about you a lot, and then asked me not to tell you. He said he might hire you for Beth's birthday." Antonio frowns when Charlie's body goes rigid and Spot immediately scrambles of Mr. Charlie's shoulder and into his arms. "Mr. Charlie—" Antonio yelps and pulls back when a large spark runs across Charlie's arm.

Charlie glances at his hands for a moment willing himself to get his emotional being under control. "I apologize, perhaps we should wait in my apartment and give my sister the _space_ that she needs." He looks over to Brittany. Her concentration was _paramount_ , and he couldn't have his powers interfering with what she was doing.


	24. Chapter 24

Charlie frowned as he turned around and continued to pace, the coin in his hand spinning rapidly. He ignores Spot who darts under his foot and hisses at him. Charlie glances at the dragon for a moment. “Hiss to you too.” He grumbles as he flips the coin up in the air.

“Mr. Charlie, you _said_ my mom would be okay. You _promised_.” Antonio swallows as he followed Charlie with his eyes. “You _promised_.”

“I did.” He agreed. “And she will be, but we have to help her first.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

Charlie sighed and held out his hand, letting Antonio see the sparks on his hand. “I am an elemental, which means power wise I’m a force of nature Quinn is the same. It’s also more or less, magic that you can see or feel. However, there are magician’s like my _mother_ and my sister and even to an extent my father even though he doesn’t practice any more, that isn’t as _colorful_ or as eye-catching as my discipline. Which means that they are sometimes harder to detect. Most of us—magicians, we use our abilities for good, or at the very least we don’t _hurt_ other people with our magic—”

“But you said you hurt someone before,” Antonio interrupts his brow furrowing at the thought. “Does that make you a bad guy?”

“I don’t know. What I do know, is that there was a person who was using his discipline to hurt someone very close to me. That same person used their magic against your mom. That’s why Brittany’s here. Psychic magic is not something that I can do. I mean I can do a few tricks, but it’s not something I spent any time studying because I don’t have a gift in it—and my discipline—or at the very least my element protects me against people trying to enter my mind.”

Antonio frowned even though Spot comes up to cuddle close to him. “Did he hurt her? If he was psychic, does that mean he made my mom not like me or—”

“We don’t _know_ what it means right now.” Charlie explains frankly. “I wish I had the answers for you. I do. But Brittany has done this before and I know she is the best at this. She’ll make sure that he has no power over your mother anymore. And while she’s in there she’ll make sure that no one can ever do that to your mother again.”

Antonio nods, “Should we call the magic police? You said that your sister is a magic police officer maybe they can go get him for hurting my mom.”

Charlie made a face, “No. I’m going to make sure that he _never_ ever hurts anyone again,” Charlie frowned. The council wouldn’t _do_ anything about this and he didn’t want to deal with Quinn being forced to relive _everything_ she had gone through. There was a reason why they hadn’t gone to the adults beforehand when they were younger.

“Good. But why didn’t he use his magic on me?” Antonio frowns.

“Because I gave you something that would protect you and he probably didn’t notice it,” Charlie answers. “Remember?”

“You mean this?” Antonio draws the ward that Charlie had made him practice until it was perfect. It had been kind of fun to learn something powerful, even if it was just something that protected him. But suddenly, a thought strikes him and makes his stomach flip. “If I had drawn it with my mom—could I have stopped it?”

“Probably.” He says without thinking. When Spot nips at him, Charlie sighs, “If you and I had caught it in time, we could have protected her. It wasn’t just your job; it was mine too. You’re her son and it’s an important job to keep your mom safe, but I am her Magician. I should have seen it before it happened.”

“But you can’t see the future.” Antonio furrows his brow. “Right?”

“No. I can’t. But I _should_ have. This is why we’re going to do whatever it takes to help her. She’s probably going to be really upset and maybe even a little angry. She could be scared, or she could be sick for the next few days. But we’re going to take care of her.”

Antonio gulps and nods. “Just like we should have in the beginning.”

~O~

Brittany frowns and pulls her hands down from Santana’s temples. This is her worst nightmare coming true. For _years_ she’s wondered if she did the right thing with Quinn, blocking every single memory of Noah. Back then, she hadn’t realized how Noah had infiltrated so much of Quinn’s memories and abilities. She’s spent her entire life thinking about what she would do differently if she could do it all over again.

But she didn’t ever think she’d get the chance.

She felt _guilty._ Maybe if they had reported it, told their parents and reported Puck to the authorities then he wouldn’t have been able to prey on anyone else. But they hadn’t and this was the result. Charlie’s general paranoia had finally been good for something, and she was surprised that he had even noticed. He _hadn’t_ noticed when it came to Quinn until it was too late, they had been closer once.

The real problem was that they had all been friends, to some degree, so she couldn’t erase Quinn’s feelings mind about Noah, without dampening how she felt about Charlie. Dealing with the brain and emotions was _tricky_ even for someone as gifted as her and she had been young and inexperienced. Even now, it wasn’t as if she had _practiced_ on other individuals. Santana was only the second person she was working on.

It was easier than she remembered it being with Quinn. Maybe it was because they caught it early enough or maybe she was a better Magician than she had been at eighteen. Regardless, releasing Noah’s hold didn’t mean she had to eradicate him from existence. She didn’t have to leave Santana defenseless. This time instead, she had put up block after block, erasing Puck’s commands without having to erase the experience entirely.

Maybe, if Charlie didn’t kill him first, Santana could help them take him down. Though it would probably end up with Charlie killing him regardless.

She pulls back, and licks her lips, wondering when they had gotten so dry. Now all they could do was _wait_. She was sure that she hadn’t missed anything but someone would need to keep an eye on Santana for a few days.  Antonio would have to make sure that his mom wasn’t acting weird because she wasn’t sure if she trusted Charlie’s judgement on what was weird and what wasn’t.

With a grunt Brittany gets up and heads to the sink so she can pour herself a glass of water when she freezes and hears a low groan and turns her attention back to Santana. Water could wait, she needed to make sure she hadn’t inadvertently left Santana a vegetable.

“Santana? Can you hear me?” Brittany asks gently shaking Santana’s arm. “Please don’t do something scary like grab my throat and have your eyes flash red,” she mutters. She had been watching way too many scary movies as of late.

Santana groans again, her eyes fluttering open. She blinks twice and immediately grimaces, her head felt _weird_. It wasn’t quite painful, but it felt uncomfortable and she glances over at Brittany, confusion crossing her face. “What are you doing here?”

Brittany smiled, “I know it might feel like I took a brush to your brain, but I have a few questions that I need to ask you. Unless—there is something _important_ you want to tell me. Something of the utmost important that you think I—or Chuck should know? ”

Santana nods and rubs at her temples. There was no point in even _attempting_ to try and explain what was going on here, but she needed to try and keep trying. His words _couldn’t_ be absolute. “You mean about the psychopathic asshole—” Santana paused and looked up, she had been sure that had been _her_ voice that had just spoken. But it couldn’t be. “Noah—” She immediately tenses up when Brittany throws her arms around her.  

“It worked. Fuck. I can’t believe it _worked_. This is good—no this is _fantastic_.”

“Uh Brittany?”

“You might feel like you have the worst hangover of your life, but we did it!” Brittany does a little victory dance.

Santana stares at Brittany, “You did it?”

“Well, it was mostly Charlie who noticed something was wrong and you really don’t want him in your head, not that he could get into it. He doesn’t have the talent for it at all. Probably an after effect of his lightning.” Brittany mused. But it’s a good thing Santana, he’s been waiting with Antonio in his apartment so when you’re ready to—” Brittany shifted quickly catching Santana as she tried to get up. “You might be dizzy and you start smelling toast you need to tell me immediately,” Brittany informs her.

Santana nods absentmindedly gritting her teeth at the pounding headache, that had clearly been a mistake. She just needed to get to her son, and make sure that he was okay. “He—gave orders to Antonio—”

“Charlie gave him a medallion ages ago, that has kept him safe, but I will check him over.” Brittany promised as she helped Santana cross the room and through the hallway. Charlie has been worried about you—and if he hadn’t been paranoid about how odd you were acting—by the way it’s a big accomplishment for him to actually notice that you were acting odd. My point is—you’re going to need to forgive him for not asking permission before he put you to sleep.” Brittany informed her. When Santana doesn’t say anything she bites her lip. “He cares about you and Antonio a _lot_ Santana.”

The door swung open before Santana could reply and Charlie stood there his hazel eyes searching her suspiciously.

“Mom!” Antonio said immediately making his way to her and trying to push past Charlie who immediately placed his hand out. Antonio stops and stares glancing between his mother and Mr. Charlie. “Is she my mom?” He asks fretfully.

Charlie frowns slightly, “Antonio wants me to make an elephant explode at his party—”

Santana’s face twisted at him, annoyance written all over her features.  “Are you insane? No. No magic. What is wrong with you?”

Charlie turns to Antonio and nods at him letting him go and watching as he hugged his mother tightly. He moves so that they can enter his apartment, helping Santana to his couch. He wasn’t quite sure what to say to her. There was _nothing_ on his cards that told him how to handle this situation at all.

 

 


	25. Chapter 25

“Are you sure you should be up and walking around?” Charlie asks, a frown on his face as he watches Santana fiddle around in the kitchen. It seemed as if she was attempting to make tea. She hadn’t said a word to him, not since she refused to allow him to perform at Antonio’s birthday. It was obvious she was spinning wheels, unable to stand still for a moment. It had been easier once Antonio was awake, he had stuck by her side until he had gotten sleepy. She’d even thanked Brittany but she hadn’t really said a word to him.

Not that he minded, but he was concerned.  He had no idea if it had really worked, and while he trusted his sister to do a proper job—perhaps he needed to start looking into that field so he would be better able to protect her.

“I’m unsure if I’ve said this, but I’m sorry.” 

This makes Santana stop. She straightens her back but doesn’t turn around. “For what?”

They’re the first words she’s said to him in hours. “I had a duty of care, and I should have recognized it sooner. I should have. It’s a mistake that I don’t plan on making again.”

He can practically see her shudder before she spins around to face him. “A duty of care? You mean when you _promised_ that I’d be safe, that Antonio would be safe? And then this happens? Is that what you meant?”

“I—”

“All the creepy creatures that you keep around, the fires that you start, the fact that you summoned a dangerous pet for my son! I accepted that, it made Antonio happy and the pay was good. But you _never_ told you me you had enemies. I never would have taken the job if I had known that _crazed_ lunatics were after you because you had _fucked_ them over. I don’t know what I expected, Terri _told me_ you were some sort of mercenary, but honestly I thought you were more into the whole finding rare items—and selling them I didn’t think you were one of the _bad_ mercenaries.”   

“I don’t.”

“You can’t be that _slow_ , I _saw_ what you did to his hands. You took away something that I know you cherish more than anything. So how could you possibly not realize that he _hates_ you. He _loathes you,_ and you have no idea of what he wants to do to you. So how can you stand there and tell me to my face that you don’t have enemies.” Santana reaches for the counter to steady herself. She could feel a pulsating headache coming on right behind her eyes. “Every word out of his mouth was how much he hated you, how all of this was your fault and I mean I saw what you did to his hands. So the question I have is _why_? Why the hell would you do that to another person?” She looks at him, his answer would determine whether she was going to quit and take her chances with someone else. Russell had offered her a position; she probably wouldn’t make as much money but at least the pay was good. Maybe she could take Sebastian’s job. It would serve the prick right.

Charlie studies her for a moment, there weren’t the right _cards_ for this. “I did what I did because I thought that it would stop him. I was under the opinion that without the ability to do most magic he would never be able to do what he did to you to someone else.”

“You thought _wrong_.”  Santana snaps at him.

“It’s a mistake that I won’t repeat,” Charlie repeats darkly.

“I can’t believe that I have to explain this to you, you’re an _adult_. Violence will only lead to more violence, and Noah can’t be the only person who’s abused his gifts. I don’t see you going around destroying their ability to do magic. So you’re going to tell me exactly what started this war between the two of you. You need to tell me what _possessed_ you to destroy his hands. He claims that you were jealous but I would like to believe that you aren’t that petty.”

This finally elicits a response from Charlie who snorts, “Jealous? Noah was barely passing his classes and he depended on me to make sure his homework was passable. Did he have talent as a magician? Yes, he’s from a pureblood family, he was powerful and had potential. Which he wasted. If he had picked up a book instead of attempting to get everyone to like him then perhaps he might be my equal.”

Santana frowned, “ _Charlie_.”

“He was my roommate. We were friends once upon a time. I’m sure it may surprise you but I wasn’t that popular growing up. People didn’t flock to me like they did him. But he was kind to me.” Charlie muses and looks at Santana. “I was aware that he might be using his discipline for personal gain, but that didn’t bother me. Most people in his discipline have a hard time with me, apparently the lightning that I generate seems to create this barrier of sorts—Brittany described it as white noise, that is protective in nature. So what did it matter that he got an extra plate at breakfast? It was little things. It’s not as if I haven’t used my discipline for personal gain at times.”

“Stealing cookies from your mother, and causing a blackout at the school because you forgot to study for a test, does _not_ make you some criminal savant. It makes you a child who was gifted with incredible abilities.” 

“We were _children_ ; I think that makes the difference. But as we grew older, and we finally started going through puberty—Noah had always been popular, so the girls that surrounded him—I never gave it much thought. It was just another distraction that I didn’t have time for.”  Charlie reaches into his pockets and pulls out his coin and begins to move it in his hands in an agitated fashion. “I didn’t care and I didn’t _notice_ that there was something more— _insidious_ going on, until I caught him with Quinn.” Charlie makes a face. “That’s when I figured it out. Cause Quinn told me you know—and Brittany. I had to have dinner with them even though it was a waste of time and Brittany asked about the girls in my life to which I responded there were none. Quinn likes girls. I’ve known that when she started to, you know, grow up.”

“He—”

“She was on her knees, when I opened the door to my room.” Charlie says flatly, the coin in his hand glowing. Sparks began to fly off his hand. He flicks his eyes toward Santana, “He didn’t—with you—”

It takes her a moment to realize what he’s trying to say and she immediately shakes her head. “No.” 

He blows out a breath of relief he didn’t know he had been holding.  “Good. That’s good.” He mumbles this and looks at her.

Santana was quiet for a moment, “He raped her?”

Charlie nods once, “He made her to do every one of his _sick_ fantasies. I reacted, and Brittany spent the next few days scrubbing Quinn’s mind like she did yours. Quinn then asked us to make her _forget_. She begged Brittany to make her forget so that’s what we did.” Charlie was quiet. “I don’t know how many other people he harmed, so I did what I did. I don’t regret it.”

She feels her anger deflate a little. She’s still unsettled and uncomfortable in her own skin, but she’s relieved that at least Charlie hadn’t incurred Noah’s wrath over something petty. “You still should have told me.”

“Are you going to quit?” Panic grips him at the thought. It’s not just that he doesn’t want to waste the effort to train another assistant. He’s not sure what it means, but he doesn’t want to lose her.

She sighs. She _should_ quit. Everything inside of her says that she should run as fast as she can from this stupid magical community. But she _can’t_. Especially now that she knows that there are people like Noah in the world. “Who else have you pissed off?”

“Uh,” He scratched the back of his head. “Do you want me to make a list?”

She laughs despite herself. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t have the social prowess that you and Brittany and even _Quinn_ seem to possess. I’m afraid there are a lot of people I have offended or upset over the years. Far too many to make a list about, and I’m sure there will be many people missing from the list.”

“Fine.” She rolls her eyes, supposing that his assessment was fair. “Who else wants to _kill_ you and might use _me_ to do it.”

“I’ve helped Quinn put a few people away, I imagine that a few of them would like to knock me down a few pegs. Using you on the other hand? Very few people have the skill that Puck has, but to make sure that you aren’t ever in that position again. Brittany has promised to put up very strong mental blocks on both you and Antonio to make sure no one can ever take your will from you again.” Charlie promised. “I _promise_ that I will increase security as well, and make sure that you are equipped with enough defensive magic to keep you safe from any attacks.”

Santana inhales slowly, “I don’t think you realize how much of a _violation_ it was. I don’t think you understand how I screamed at you to notice that something was up and then _act_ on it. He hates you Charlie, and I didn’t know, I met him and I felt that something was off but I didn’t _know_ and—”  She pauses when Charlie hugs her tightly.  The action catches her by surprise and her breath catches. His body feels warm and she bites her lip and clings to him tightly. 

“I’ll do better.” He vowed, it was the only thing that he could do. He’d have to make his shop and this house a fortress.

Santana nods, she believed him. For someone who wasn’t good with emotions and people, he _had_ noticed. He had been worried and he had still tried to respect her requests about using magic. “Okay—”

“Mom?”

Santana pulls away from Charlie and turns to look at her son who was busy rubbing his eye and staring at them a curious expression on his face. “Tony you’re supposed to be in bed—do you need a glass of water?” She asks, moving to get him a glass. 

“Hi Mr. Charlie,” Antonio waves tiredly. He turns back to his mom and studies her carefully. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“You promise?”

“Yeah. I’m just a bit jumpy but I promise you that I’ll be okay.” Santana said moving so she could hug him tightly.

Antonio holds onto her as if she might disappear at any second and she feels a pang of regret that she ever put him into that position.

 


	26. Chapter 26

Santana hesitated as she watched Antonio shoveling cereal into his mouth, occasionally feeding Spot some of the sugary breakfast food. She wasn’t quite sure what to do. There was a _huge_ part of her that wanted to keep Antonio safe, she hadn’t checked in yesterday with Noah, and she wasn’t sure what his next move was going to be. Surely he would have figured out by now that she had been compromised. Yet she didn’t want Antonio living in fear, the last thing she needed was for him to become a neurotic mess, worried about what went bump in the night.

“So, what’s Mr. Charlie going to do mom?” Antonio asked finally. “Is he going to beat up the person who hurt you?”

Santana blinked focusing on her son for a moment, “No. Absolutely _not_. Beating people up is the reason we’re in this situation to begin with. If Mr—if Charlie hadn’t lost his temper, then he wouldn’t have come after us to get to him.” The situation was complicated, and she was making the executive decision to protect her son from the truth.

Antonio frowned, “So Mr. Charlie did a _bad_ thing?”

Santana hesitated, cursing Antonio’s curiosity. “No. He didn’t do a _bad_ thing. He didn’t do the _right_ thing either. He should have gone to his parents or someone instead of attacking the person that hurt me. _But_ , I can’t blame him for getting so angry that he lashed out, that doesn’t make it right—it just makes it understandable. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah,” Antonio said swallowing. “I think so.” He’s quiet for a moment. “Are you _sure_ that Mr. Charlie isn’t going to hurt him, because he seemed really angry yesterday.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Santana promises. It was nice to know that he cared, but she didn’t want to be dragged into this war between the two of them. She wasn’t going to be Noah’s puppet anymore, and she certainly didn’t want Charlie _saving_ her. She was still surprised that he had even noticed, that there was something different about her behavior.

“What are you waiting for?” Antonio narrows his eyes at his mom.

“You mean _now_?” Antonio nods at the question and Santana sighs. “Alright, I’ll make sure that Charlie doesn’t go on the warpath, I needed to talk to him about something else anyway.” She needed to make sure that Antonio would be safe, that Noah wouldn’t retaliate in the worst possible way by going after her son. “Finish your cereal and get ready alright?” Santana lectures as she moves towards the door and pulls open the door. She takes a step forward and feels her foot catch on something large in front of her door. She immediately glances down.

“Ow.”

“Charlie, what are you doing?” Santana demands noting that he had a piece of chalk and that parts of the carpet had been lifted up, with strange markings all over the floor. He looked rather haggard.

Charlie glances at Santana, “Wards. Powerful wards. This place will alert me if someone sneezes funny. I told you that I would make sure that you’re safe. I’m working on it; I’m only half done—that’s being generous, I have only done the store—”

“Stop,” Santana said holding her hand up. “Antonio wants me to make sure that you aren’t going to _hurt_ anyone. You aren’t going to hurt Noah.”

“What I plan to do to him _won’t_ hurt. I can make sure that he’ll never hurt anyone again though.”

“He has a child, Charlie, someone who depends on him,” Santana reminds him.

“Bad people have children Santana, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t stop them.”

“So put him in wizard jail.”

“Excuse me?”

Santana sighed, she didn’t quite know the correct terms for these things but they had to have some sort of jail. “Put him in wizard jail, that’s what you do when people break the rules. I mean after he dropped wanting to curse you or something, he wanted you to have to deal with the board—for using magic in front of mundanes.”

Charlie frowns at this, “I take it back. Noah was _never_ that smart. Surely he knows that with my family ties, that pinning me down for a minor infraction is going to lead to a minor slap on the wrist. The worst they could do is—”

“Suspend your magical abilities?” Santana presses. “He knows, that’s when you’d be vulnerable which is when he was going to do the exact same thing to you as you did to him on a more permanent basis.”

Charlie was quiet for a long moment looking at his hands, “The damage I did to his hands wasn’t completely permanent if he found a top-class healer. I imagine he tried, but the only people who _could_ help him are in my family. My mother and my aunts working together could probably fix his hands however they would _never_ help him.”

Santana groans, he probably thought he was incredibly clever. “That’s beside the point Charlie. He has a daughter; you cannot kill him or maim him. I’m telling you what I want is for him to go to jail, or whatever the equivalent is.”

“I’ll try.” It’s the only thing that he can promise. He was going to _end_ Noah and his reign of terror no matter what the consequence was.

Santana narrowed her eyes, that wasn’t good enough. “Charlie. _Promise me_ , or I swear on whatever you hold dear to you that I will quit and go and work for your father or Quinn, or Brittany or someone else. A rival, I don’t care, but I’ll do it.”

“Promise what, exactly?”

“That you will not kill, maim, or seriously injure Noah Puckerman.” Santana thinks over her own words to see if there were any loopholes. She personally didn’t mind if Noah fell off a cliff but she didn’t want Charlie to be the one to do it. “ _And_ you will make sure he faces judgment before the tribunal.”

It takes a moment of tense staring before he realizes that Santana is willing to put up a fight about this issue. “Fine.”

She arches her brow. There’s no _way_ it should be that easy.

“What do you want from me Santana?” He throws up his hands exasperatedly. “Sure I won’t seriously harm him. But do you know what’s going to happen if I do nothing? He’ll find _another_ way. And sure, next time it might not be through you. But there’s only _one_ way I can keep you and Antonio safe.”

“You’re worried about him.”

“Of course I’m worried! He’s a deranged maniac and he’s not going to stop coming after _you_ to get to me.”

She’s stunned for a minute, unsure of what she’s supposed to do next. Charlie’s always been this enigmatic aloof person that she never really had to worry about. It didn’t matter if he was making up spells or conjuring a dragon, she just always had to believe that he was harmlessly clueless. She turns to look at Antonio who is currently watching them from where he’s petting Spot and she grimaces and grabs Charlie pulling him away from the door and closing the door. “Antonio looks up to you. Which is why I don’t want you killing anyone, he’s at an age where this can really shape him. Where he needs to learn right from wrong, he needs to understand it Charlie and you going off and killing someone or maiming them because you can and you have the power to do so, even if it is justified is not what I want Antonio to learn.”

“That doesn’t solve the Noah problem if I do nothing—”

“So use me. Use me to catch him. He probably thinks I’m compromised but if we can corner him—you can arrest him peacefully and drag him to face what he’s done.”

“Santana for the last time I have a _duty of care_ , putting you in harm's way is not part of any deal I’m willing to consider. You might do something incredibly foolish and get caught in the crossfire—”

“Noah can’t do magic, only you can and you already promised to bring him in too face what he’s done. So that’s not an option. This—” Santana points to the marks on the ground, “Shouldn’t be a thing. You can’t lock me and Antonio up to keep us safe. So this is the only option.”

“That’s _not_ an option.” Charlie disagrees right away.

“Yes it is. It’s the only thing that makes sense. And if you’re not going to help me, then I’m going to do it myself.”

“You _can’t._ The wards aren’t strong enough—”

“Charlie, Antonio can’t go to school until Noah and everyone who could possibly hurt him is taken care of. Antonio _needs_ to go to school.” Santana sighs, “It’s not only Antonio, I need to get ahead of this myself. He turned me into his pawn, and I need to make sure he knows that he can’t ever hurt me again.”

“I don’t like going unprepared into things, while Noah may not quite be a match for me anymore his new magician might be, at least if Noah has been tutoring him, a magician duel is _nothing_ to sneeze at Santana.” He sighs and rubs his temples. He was tired, he’d been up all night creating the new wards, and he had begun to trace them out. He hadn’t even realized that it was morning. “You’re not going to be bait, I’ll find Noah, a simple location spell—”

“You don’t think he’s prepared for that?”

“A simple location spell on his daughter,” Charlie finishes and raises his hands. “It won’t hurt her, she won’t feel it but it will be enough to locate him. It’s simple, it’s easy and once I’ve found him it’ll be easier to track him. That way you don’t need to do anything dangerous and Antonio will be back in school relatively soon.”

“And what about his daughter?”

“What about his daughter? If Noah actually cared about her he wouldn’t have come after me. He would have left it alone,” Charlie replies. “She’ll be taken care of by someone, we do take care of our own. You don’t need to worry about her.” Charlie promises.

Santana shook her head, she _hated_ when he said that she didn’t have to worry. Clearly she did, because despite what Charlie personally believed he didn’t actually _know_ everything. Nor could he predict the future. She couldn’t just leave her safety, and Antonio’s safety up to him. Which meant that this part of the conversation was going to be difficult. “Brittany offered to help me and Antonio learn to keep our minds closed off from psychic attacks—”

“Good. It’s something that I can’t teach you, I was going to suggest it myself.” Charlie nods standing up and yawning.

Santana relaxes, he was always slightly odd about her going to see his siblings about help. He was possessive over her time, but for once he seemed to be putting her needs and Antonio’s needs ahead of what he wanted. “Did Rachel give you more cards?”

“No. I think it’s important that both of you learn how to protect your minds because I’m not always going to be right. There may be times where I don’t notice and what happens if I’m _not_ there? You both need to learn how to protect yourself, so if anything does go wrong you know how to defend yourself.” Charlie reaches forward and pats Santana’s arm.

“Go get some sleep Charlie, I’ll tell Antonio that he can spend the day with me. I don’t think he really wanted to go to school anyway.”

Charlie nods and is about to turn to enter his own apartment stopping for a moment, “My door is open Santana, no matter what you can just come in—oh, and don’t answer the phone. I’m not sure how Noah’s powers work, so better safe than sorry.”


	27. Chapter 27

Ever since Rachel Berry-Fabray had known Charlie, he had always made snide demeaning comments about Quinn’s abilities. It was rude and hurtful, as far as she was concerned, especially given the fact that between the two of them she was _certain_ that Quinn had more raw power. Charlie was an arrogant jackass as far as she was concerned. Quinn had insisted that it didn’t bother and it was just some normal family ribbing. There were plenty of things to make fun of Charlie for, and Quinn did but Charlie didn’t see how hard Quinn worked to make sure that she wasn’t a burden to everyone else. She had always assumed that he had known deep down, which was why he helped whenever Quinn asked. Sure there would be a few snide comments, and he complained throughout but he _did_ help.

But this time he had _gone_ too far. She wasn’t going to stand for it anymore and if Quinn wasn’t going to say anything, then she would. She was Quinn’s wife and defending her wife was high on her list of priorities, especially if it was against Charlie.

“ _Charlie Reagan Fabray!_ I know you’re in there! Open up!” Rachel demanded as she banged on his door. “Don’t you dare think that closing down your store and hiding in your apartment will save you.” The door opens behind her and Rachel turns, half expecting to see Santana, but instead it’s Antonio who is staring at her. Rachel flushes and immediately straightens up, “Antonio I—”

“Mr. Charlie is sleeping, mom said that he needs his rest if he’s going to bring in the bad guy so please be quiet,” Antonio interrupts narrowing his eyes at her. Until Charlie was awake, it was up to him to protect his _mom_. Well him and Spot—even though Spot seemed more concerned with laying in the beam of sunlight. 

“Charlie doesn’t _really_ sleep, I don’t think he knows how to do that anymore so he’s probably simply avoiding me because he doesn’t want to deal with my anger Tony.”

Antonio frowned, “I don’t like being called Tony,” he says scratching his cheek. Charlie called him Antonio and the only person who called him Tony _sometimes_ was his mom. “Mom said—”

“Antonio, I understand how you feel but I’ve known Charlie for far longer than you have and I can tell when he’s simply avoiding the consequences of his actions—”

“He’s sleeping,” Santana interrupts finally making her way to the doorway, narrowing her eyes at Rachel. No wonder Charlie had never taken to Rachel, she was rather annoying. “You didn’t see the bags under his eyes—I wasn’t going to let him start placing a ward when he was this tired—let alone do _magic_ around my son.”

“A ward? Why does he need to place a ward?” That takes Rachel by surprise. Charlie is almost paranoid about making sure his shop has proper security.

Santana crosses her arms over her chest. “Does it matter? Charlie’s exhausted, so whatever you’re here for is going to have to wait.”

Santana’s flippant dismissal makes Rachel narrow her eyes as she remembers exactly why she’s here. “It’s not going to wait. He insulted my _wife_ and his ridiculous childish antics have simply gone too far.’

“I know this may be hard for you to believe, but we’ve had other things to deal with than worrying about hurting Quinn’s feelings. So—”

“This is more than that. It’s more than Charlie being his idiotic obtuse self.” Rachel pushes past Santana to get her foot in the door. “And I’m not leaving until I give him a piece of my mind.”

Charlie stumbles out of his bedroom, wiping the sleep from his eyes. “Hey Rachel. Why are you here? I thought I was having a terrible dream only to realize you really were here in my apartment.”

Rachel looks him over critically. He looked terrible, like he hadn’t slept in days. He had deep black circles under his squinting eyes and day old stubble along his  chin. Even though that might _normally_ garner some sympathy from her, she was here to put him in his place. “ _Zizes_. You went to _Zizes_? How could you work with your sister’s— _rival_?” Rachel spits angrily. “You know as well as I do that Quinn will never live this down, that you went to Zizes instead of her. Not that you care but people talk and _people_ have overheard you talking to Quinn. Now there are questions about her _competency_.”

Charlie stared at Rachel blankly and then looked at Santana, “Since I’m up perhaps I could finish the—”

“You don’t do magic when you’re tired and your old wards are _still_ there. I feel safe,” she lies. “So go back and get some sleep and then when you’re finished—”

“ _Don’t_ dismiss me! You might think that it is just family ribbing, that you’re just teasing Quinn about how terrible she is at magic but it _hurts_ her feelings. You have _no_ idea how hard she works, how much she practices in her spare time and studies various spells only to forget them. She _struggles_ , and you sit here in your ‘ivory tower’ making fun of her because no one is as smart as you. I’m here to tell you that it ends _today_. You’re not working with Zizes to go on some stupid adventure.”

Santana freezes at the admission. She had always dismissed Charlie’s snide comments about Quinn’s abilities as familial teasing, but did that mean that Charlie was somehow responsible? That Brittany helping Noah—? It had to be. She tries to catch Charlie’s eyes but he’s suddenly looking everywhere _but_ at her.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about Rachel.” Charlie looks away and rubs the back of his head. “I have a project that is _sensitive_ and Quinn—”

“Is your _sister_. Or do you not care about that? She’s your _sister_ and she tries so hard to make sure that she lives up to the Fabray family legacy. But you mock her and thwart her at every turn. It’s gone too far. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. So tell me, tell me what is _so_ sensitive that you went to the one person that Quinn hates more than anyone else on earth.”

“Quinn hates a lot of people.” Charlie shrugs.

“Don’t avoid the question.” Rachel snaps. She takes a step forward, getting into Charlie’s personal space. “I _trusted_ you Charlie. For all of your mistakes and missteps, I _honestly_ thought you cared about people other than yourself. I may not have made the cut to be a magician, but I know plenty of spells that will make you hurt and I’ll use every single one of them to watch you bleed unless you tell me why you would do this to her.”

“I’m trying to protect her.”

“Bullshit. Quinn doesn’t need your protection.”

Finally, Santana speaks up. “She does from this.”

Rachel whips around, stunned to have Santana weigh in on something she definitely knows nothing about. “Excuse me?”

Santana winces when Charlie finally looks at her, he doesn’t look pleased at what she said. Instead she immediately turns to Antonio who had been watching the back and forth with interest and shoos him back into the house. “I always thought being a Fabray meant that you were slightly misanthropic to begin with. Brittany lives in the forest with a bunch of animals, sure some of them may or may not be sentient, but she lives in the forest with a bunch of animals. Quinn doesn’t really like people to begin with and Charlie—well, he’s Charlie and that should say something. I asked him to do something, and trust me he’s protecting Quinn.”

“Well forgive me if I don’t take your word for it.”

Santana sighed, she hadn’t known that this would become a family issue, when she had asked Charlie to do the _right_ thing. “I asked Charlie to go through the proper channels I'm sure if he had his way Quinn or this Zizes person wouldn't be in the equation at all so if you want to blame anyone blame me. I didn't want Quinn to know.” Santana lies with ease.

Rachel narrowed her eyes, “What _exactly_ is going on?”

Charlie rubbed at his temples, he could feel a headache coming on and he wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. “Rachel, you’re not my assistant. I don’t have to tell you anything and more importantly I don’t really want to. If Quinn has any issue with me, then she knows where to find me. But I’m not going to stand here and defend myself, I need to start working on the wards again—”

Rachel threw her hands up, “You make half the wards in the state, how do you think you’ve been making your money? This place is as secure as it’s ever going to be, because I can count on one hand the people who can undo your wards. That number becomes infinitely smaller when it comes to people who can undo your wards without you knowing.”

“And yet, my wards didn’t catch that Santana had an unfortunate run in with a psychic,” Charlie points out dryly. He frowns slightly when Rachel pauses for a moment. “I’m working on rectifying that, hopefully this new batch will alert me to such an occurrence. I admit that I needed some help with the strokes however—I’d rather get it done sooner rather than later.” 

“Do you honestly think that Quinn wouldn’t help you? An attack on your Assistant is an attack on this family. Your father and mother would—”

“Quinn and my parents would only slow me down.” Charlie interrupts bluntly. “I should get back to—” He begins frowning when the words don’t immediately come to him something about his wards. He needed to fix them, make them better. 

“Go to sleep Charlie,” Santana repeats. “You agreed no magic while you’re tired. The fact that you can’t remember any such conversation is _exactly_ why you need to sleep. I’ll handle this alright?”

Charlie flicks his eyes back to Rachel for a moment before he stumbles back into his apartment and closes the door. “Fine,” his voices comes out muffled through the door.

Santana relaxes for a moment, she wasn’t sure what she was afraid of more. Charlie doing magic while physically and mentally exhausted or Noah. What she _wasn’t_ afraid of, was Rachel. “Rachel, seriously this has nothing to do with Quinn and everything to do with me. I got attacked by a psychic, and I asked Charlie not to get Quinn involved. In fact I wanted to keep this as quiet as possible. I mean he violated my mind and I don’t feel _safe_. That’s why Charlie’s been working non-stop, to make sure that it _never_ happens again. So tell Quinn not to take this personally—”

“Quinn is the equivalent of a police officer, why in the world would you ask Charlie not to tell her? If there was anyone you should tell about being attacked by a psychic—”

“Rachel my reason’s are my own, but I didn’t want the entire family to know. Now they do and I feel horrible about it, I didn’t even really want to talk about it,” Santana admits, cutting her off. “But I’m not going to let Charlie take the blame for this. As far as he was concerned he could take care of it quickly and quietly—”

“Yes but with a lot of paperwork. Charlie can’t do whatever he wants whenever he wants to. There are rules, there are regulations and all because Charlie’s last name is Fabray doesn’t mean anything in the long run. He doesn’t get to be judge, jury _and_ executioner,” Rachel crosses her arms. There was something that she was missing and that she needed to get to the bottom of. What she did know was that Charlie had absolutely no skill in several of the disciplines, dealing with psychics was a glaring weakness that he had. Which meant that he had brought in Brittany which meant that Mike would know. “I’m sorry Santana, I didn’t mean to pry into your life, but Charlie does have a history of thinking he’s _better than_ Quinn.”

“Charlie thinks he’s better than everyone else. It’s a Fabray thing,” Santana responds bluntly. “Quinn shouldn’t take it so personally. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got to make sure that Antonio didn’t sneak into the cookies again. So please don’t take it out on Charlie and tell Quinn that it wasn’t because I don’t think she could handle it or anything—I just—I wanted him brought to justice. And I didn’t think that Quinn could actually stop Charlie if he actually got angry, or wouldn’t enable his bad behavior.”

“Of course, well thank you for clearing that up for me,” Rachel informs her, though she was sure her tone didn’t lead Santana to any sort of belief. She _would_ get to the bottom of this for Quinn, no matter what.

 

 


	28. Chapter 28

Charlie’s eyes snap open and he immediately jerks back a bit his hands coming up as he feels the power of his lightning crackle around his eyes. He blinks once, hoping to focus his vision on the person who had entered his personal space only to realize that it was Antonio who had also jumped back in shock. It takes him a moment to realize that Antonio was holding his blanket up, “Antonio? What are you doing here?”

Antonio bit his lip watching as the lightning dissipated, “Mom said she felt safer here with you around so she’s on the couch and your blanket fell off so I was just trying to help!” He immediately gets out watching as Charlie sits up and rubs his eyes. “She said it was so that Rachel wouldn’t show up again but I think she’s still super worried.”

Charlie studies Antonio for a moment, before swinging his legs off his bed and stretching, feeling his muscles and ligaments pop and crack with the effort. “Don’t worry this will all be over soon. No one is going to hurt your mother like that ever again.”

Antonio nods and lets go of Charlie’s blanket, “After you’re done can you keep teaching me magic? So I can protect my mom too?” He asks watching as Charlie opens a drawer and begins to look for a shirt.

Charlie stops and turns to look at Antonio again, there was an earnest look in his eyes. “Well—”

“I can almost draw a perfect circle now! I’ve been practicing every day. I promise,” Antonio insists.

“Antonio—”

“ _Please_ Mr. Charlie? You said you’d teach me how to protect mom and I can’t depend on Spot all the time, she’s just a baby.”

Charlie scratched his cheek as he grabs a shirt and pulls it on, “If I’m going to teach you magic, which I will—then we’re going to have to start at the beginning. I’m not going to teach you any short cuts, you will have to work very hard to become a decent magician and even then, without me knowing exactly which discipline you have a talent in, and you still don’t have your magic. I’m unsure your mother will allow me to simply let you play with my magic, so we’ll see.”

“But that’s not good enough. What if my mom _needs_ me?” Antonio worried.

Charlie frowns. “Well that would mean that I failed, I wasn’t this good with magic overnight—” As far as he was concerned that was a lie, but Antonio wasn’t a Fabray. He wasn’t a pure-blooded Magician. To some people such as his father, it mattered. He personally couldn’t care less about Antonio’s blood status. But Magic would be harder, he would need to work twice as hard to be a decent Magician and as far as Charlie was concerned that was unacceptable. Antonio needed to be a _great_ Magician. “Don’t worry about protecting your mother Antonio, I promise that I’ll keep her safe. I’ll keep the both of you safe.”

Antonio frowns, that wasn’t the answer that he _wanted_ to hear. But it would have to do for now. “Does that mean that you’re going to marry my mom?”

“Marry her? Why on earth would I do that?”

“To _protect_ her.” Antonio rolls his eyes as if it’s the most obvious explanation in the world.

Charlie frowns and rubs his chin thoughtfully. “I don’t have to marry her to protect her. Magic doesn’t work that way. But she is my assistant and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she’s safe. She’s my assistant and she’s too good at it for me to ever let her go easily.” He nudges Antonio at the end of his statement, hoping a little playful light-heartedness will keep Antonio from worrying about this too much.

Antonio isn’t going to be dissuaded so easily. “Rachel was your assistant. So was Mike. And they _left._ If you married my mom, you could protect her forever, and she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to.”

Charlie lifts up his finger, about to respond when he really thinks over Antonio’s suggestion. Is that really such a bad idea? Surely Rachel would never leave _Quinn_. “Antonio, your mother is—I’m not quite sure—I don’t think I can just ask her to marry me. And even if I could, I’m sure that as her boss it would be extremely improper for me to ask such a thing. Then your mom will leave anyway.”

“Oh,” Antonio frowned. He hadn’t thought of that and he scratches his head. “So that’s why you have to teach me magic!”

“Antonio, even if I had the time right now to teach you magic, it’s still going to take years. Do you think you’d be able to beat me if I started teaching you tomorrow?”

Antonio shakes his head his frown deepens. “But—”

“Antonio, I give you my word that I will keep your mother safe and do everything in my power to keep her employed as _my_ assistant. But to do that I need to focus on _this_ threat. I need to make sure that Noah never gets to her again.” Charlie pats Antonio’s head stopping when Antonio scowls at him. If he remembered correctly he had never liked it when his father had done the same thing to him multiple times. “Now, speaking of your mother—where is she?”

“Sleeping on the couch, I got bored of reading—and mom said I wasn’t allowed to touch anything and you don’t even have a _television_! You should get one Mr. Charlie.”

Charlie finished pulling on his shirt and buttoning it up. “No. This place need to remain distraction free.”

“But that’s _boring._ ”

“It’s efficient.” Charlie corrects, narrowing his eyes. “What do you know anyway?”

“I know _lots_ of things.” Antonio reminds him. “Lots of thing that you don’t know,” he mutters the last part and smiles when Charlie shoots him a look. “It’s true.”

Charlie grunts at this insult and heads over to his couch and frowns and leans down so he can gently shake her awake. He waits until her eyes are open before finally saying something, “Next time, I’ll take the couch and you can have the bed.”

Santana immediately pushed herself up, flushing, “Sorry, I just—”

“It’s fine. Just let me know next time, my bed is considerably more comfortable than that couch,” Charlie informs her, patting her shoulder. “Now, would you like me to call Brittany over to watch over you and Antonio while I go after Noah? Or would you feel more comfortable with my mother? My father is absolutely _useless_ to you even though he is a strong magician, it’s like a muscle if you don’t use it—” Charlie trails off.

“What about Quinn?” Santana presses.

Charlie is quiet for a moment, “You think I’m being cruel to her as well?”

“I don’t know if you’re being cruel to her, I thought you said that Quinn is a decent Magician—”

“Raw strength and being a decent Magician are two _separate_ things.  Quinn has power in spades, but doing spells is no longer a strength of hers. She _barely_ passed—”

“Because of what you and Brittany did to her?” Santana presses.

Charlie stares at Santana and makes a face, “We only did—what she asked. Magic has consequences. We _know_ this. We just never predicted that would be the consequence. In hindsight and given everything I know now, I can see it now, and perhaps Quinn wouldn’t have made the decision, if she had all the facts, but there is nothing we can do about it now.”

“Really? Nothing at all?”

“Apart from undoing what we did and even then, it’s not a guarantee. Magic is odd like that,” Charlie frowns, “But that doesn’t matter, what matters is that I’m going to find him. I’m going to find Noah and bring him in—as you wished without putting him in traction. Though if you’ve changed your mind—”

“What does that mean?” Antonio asked as he flopped onto the couch beside his mom and curled in.

“What it means is that Charlie is going to keep his promise and _not_ hurt Noah, he has a daughter and he’s the only one that Beth has.” Santana turns to Charlie. “You _promised_. And I’m going with you.”

“No you’re not, you have a choice of protection but I _can’t_ keep you safe and go after Noah. Even with the blocks that Brittany put in place I have no idea how strong he is, I have no idea if he can force his way through and I need to focus.” Charlie frowned.

Santana gritted her teeth, she loathed feeling _helpless_ and even though she understood his reasoning it didn’t make it any better. At least he wasn’t going alone. “Fine—how about Brittany?” She says finally. She doesn’t want to explain everything to Charlie’s mother or anyone else for that matter and perhaps Brittany would be able to continue their psychic lessons.

“Can she bring over—?”

“No,” Charlie cuts Antonio off. “The last time she brought over a creature, Rachel spent weeks cleaning up,” Charlie informs him. “I don’t think your mother wants to clean up after Brittany.”

“What makes you think I’ll be cleaning up after her?” Santana asks raising a brow. “Antonio can do it.”

“What?”

Charlie smiles. “I suppose he could. I wouldn’t have to pay him right?”

“No—”

“Hey!” Antonio scowled at his mother and then Charlie. “That’s not nice!”

“Neither is volunteering me for more work than I want to do. Why in the world do you think I never joined your silly PTA events?”

“Because you said that the only people who do that are people who have plenty of time on their hands and like to boss other people around so they feel better about their miserable lives?” Antonio answers.

Santana flushes and looks over at Charlie who looks confused, he probably didn’t even know what they were talking about. “I’m guessing your mother never had to bake cookies for a bake sale or anything like that?”

“My mother stopped baking cookies the moment that she shipped us off to boarding school. In fact I don’t think my parents cared at all about what happened afterwards just that they were _free_.” Charlie muses as he stands up. “Though if you want to talk about raising a young magician I imagine my mother has some advice that can help. I’ll call Brittany and wait for her to come, before I leave.”

Santana nods before pausing for a moment. Noah _hated_ Charlie, she didn’t really understand why. Not when Noah was in the wrong. But she didn’t think that Noah would come easily, and she didn’t want Charlie getting hurt because of her silly request. “If he attacks Charlie—I know you well enough to know that you’ll still try and take him in peacefully—but I don’t want him to kill you or anything. You’re allowed to defend yourself.”

Charlie studies her for a moment and nods. “Hopefully I’ll be back tonight.” Charlie glances at Antonio who was giving him a strange look, perhaps he would look into his idea. He’d have to ask his mother, or maybe Quinn.

 

 


	29. Chapter 29

Charlie’s lips curled in irritation as he turned to look at Lauren Zizes, she was slow, and he was beginning to question her talents. Quinn insisted that Lauren had it out for her and was some savant when it came to her discipline; natural magic. It was an oddity just like his discipline, and he was mildly curious about what she could do. Natural magic was difficult to comprehend, but it generally dealt with the ability to control and manipulate living things through magical means. It was similar to his mother’s healing magic, if anything they were two sides to the same coin. “This is why I don’t work with other magician’s, they merely slow me down.” Charlie informed Lauren his arms crossed over his chest.

“I’m sorry that we have _protocols_ that we have to follow.” Lauren snaps. She’s tired of Quinn’s male alter-ego sneering over her shoulder every five minutes.

“Even with your _protocols_ , given the situation and Noah Puckerman’s _discipline_ , this is a situation where the ends justify the means. No one is going to care if you followed some silly rule book when there is a lunatic who is in the business of invading people’s minds and controlling their actions running about,” Charlie pointed out. “The only reason I even chose you, was simply because you have a strong psychic shield from what I’ve gathered. While I could take you down if you became—compromised, it would be a headache and a bother.”

“And _I_ want to make sure that when we take this overgrown toddler down, that there is no reason for an appeal.”

“Why would there be an appeal?”

“There’s always an appeal.” She rolls her eyes. Can he really be this naive? She was going to have to tease Quinn about that sometime.

“I’m aware of how the judicial system works, I’m asking why there would be an appeal when there are _so many_ victims. My assistant—Santana—she’s not his only victim. There are other women—other _men_ probably that can inform the court of the horrors that he inflicted on them.”

“If this guy is so _terrible_ then why haven’t I heard of him? We’re going on your word that he’s a bad guy and yes I understand he invaded the thoughts of your Assistant and you want vengeance but what about the others? Why haven’t they come forward?” Lauren frowned, it had been bothering her all day. It didn’t make sense the way Charlie described Puckerman made it seem as if Noah was some sort of devil.           

“Maybe they couldn’t.”

“Well if they couldn’t come forward before, then they probably wouldn’t be able to come forward even after he is caught.”

Charlie shook his head, “No, they might not be which is why I believe that if we’re going to do this then he should be subjected to a confession. Personally I think frying his brain so he can’t hurt anyone else is the smart idea but Santana objects to that. Says it will make it worse.”

Lauren’s eyes widened, a confession wasn’t something that they just _threw_ around. It was a last resort, and it was only used for the _worst_ of the worst. Breaking into someone’s mind, forcing them to tell the truth or making them drink various serum’s that would make plying the truth out had serious ramifications. It wasn’t something that they just did for some mild offense. “There is no way that anyone on the council is going to give permission for a _confession_. I mean I always knew there was something off about you but so what? At worst what he did to Santana was horrible, it was a violation but it doesn’t rise to a _confession_ —”

“What if I can get him to admit to something heinous?” Charlie broke in, his tone was lower than she had ever heard it and his eyes narrowing. “How bad would it have to be to get everyone to sign off on a confession?”

“How bad? It would have to be catastrophic predatory behavior.” Lauren responds almost instantly.

Charlie stares at Lauren for a moment before turning his attention back to the street, “Noah apparently has a daughter, I’m not sure if that’s his _actual_ daughter or some poor child he’s controlling. Though given his proclivities it’s entirely possible that it is his daughter.”

Lauren blinks it takes a moment for her to follow that train of thought, “If what you’re implying is true than that would most definitely meet the criteria for a confession and I would recommend it.”

Charlie nods that’s all he wants to know, he wasn’t going to be able to keep his promise to Santana then. Though Noah had never been _intelligent_ , and he had always seemed to boast about his conquests. He cracks his fingers, and immediately feels the spark dance around his fingers.

~O~

Noah Puckerman glanced at his phone, nothing. Still nothing, there was no way that Charlie had figured it out but a chance encounter with Brittany? It was _possible_ that she had noticed something wrong. Which meant that his cover was blown. “We need to leave Finn, maybe head down to New Orleans.”

Finn frowned and glanced at Noah, “I didn’t even want to come to the city anyway, it’s too noisy the people aren’t that nice, it’s expensive and the magicians are arrogant—it’s not fun. I’m a small town boy—”

“Dude, if you’re going to break out into song I swear I’ll shove my foot so far up your ass that you’ll be a soprano. It doesn’t matter where, we have to go and we have to go _now_.”

“Dad?” A small voice makes Puck turn around and his face softens. “We’re moving _again_?”

He winces at the unintended reminder. He had promised her that they were here for good. Noah Puckerman might be a lot of things, but he was mostly a decent father. “I’m sorry Beth, I am but the man who hurt me found out that I was here. He’s going to come after me and I don’t want him to hurt you because he would—he’s not a good person.” His hands ached with a dull throbbing sensation, he could barely move them most days, and on rainy days the ache was worse.

Finn made a face and looked at Beth, “We don’t have to move Noah, we can just—maybe we can ask him to leave us alone?”

Noah laughed bitterly holding up his hands, “Do you think someone who did this was _reasonable_? He took away my ability to do magic, I spent years with various healers and they all said the same thing. I’d never be able to do proper magic again. He took that away from me and he’s probably searching for me right now. It’s a good thing you did the cloaking spell or he’d be here right now.”

“Well you helped, you know I never would have become a Magician if it wasn’t for you,” Finn admitted.

Noah frowned, that was true. Finn was a fucking idiot, but there was a reason that he had chosen to help him. It had been _practical_ , especially with Finn’s discipline. “Don’t worry about it—” Noah’s eyes flicked up towards the ceiling as the lights began to blink, and he could practically taste the ozone in the air. He had been here before. “ _Shit_.”

“Swear jar!” Beth said with a grin.

“Beth, you need to go to your room. I—” Noah began before the wooden door was blown off its hinges and went flying into the room. Beth screamed and Noah immediately went to wrap his arms around her. “It’s okay! It’s okay— I promise.”

“What’s going on?” Finn asks, coughing as he comes around the counter as if he is some sort of match for Charlie’s raw powers.

Charlie Fabray walked into the apartment his eyes narrowing and his hands sparking with lightning. “Noah. I’m taking you in.”

Noah cocks his brow. “Just like that? You think you can waltz in here and tell _me_ what to do?”

Charlie’s eyes flicked to the dwarf in Noah’s arms, Santana had been right he did have a dwarf of his own. It didn’t _change_ anything. “Do not make me hurt you in front of her, despite every fiber of my body telling me to put you in the ground and be done with it, I’m giving you a chance to come peacefully.”

“Why the fuck should I believe you? You destroyed my life. You took away my ability to do magic, made me into some second rate assistant. You _stole_ my future from me. And for what? Because I was sleeping with your sister?”

Charlie grinds his teeth but doesn’t rise to the bait. He needs to get Noah to confess to worse. “Sleeping with her assumes that she had a _choice_.”

Puck rolls his eyes. “Of course she did. She wanted it. She told me that plenty of times.”

“She told you that, because you forced her to. You are a predator.” Charlie corrects. “Because you don’t understand the word _no_. You just tell people to do whatever you want, no matter the consequences.”

“That didn’t seem to bother you when _you_ were the one getting the benefits.”

“Getting extra dessert is not the same as what you did to her, what you’ve done to other women—”

“Leave my dad alone!” Beth shouted at Charlie.

Charlie frowned and tilted his head at the dwarf who was yelling at him before he raised his hand, feeling the power rise in his hands. He was done with this, with talking Noah, with dealing with this situation. He would make this quick and painless.

~O~

Brittany S. Fabray glanced at Santana and Antonio, they both looked anxious. She didn’t blame them, why wouldn’t they be anxious, Charlie had been gone for three hours now and she wasn’t quite sure what that meant. She knew that it probably meant that he wouldn’t be back until he got his hands on Noah, he had always been determined when he wanted to be. “You know, he was dropped on his head as a child,” Brittany says watching as both Antonio and Santana turn to her. She smiles and runs her fingers behind the ridges on Spot’s head.

“Really?” Antonio asked and frowned. He had always thought Mr. Charlie was super smart when it came to magic.

“Yeah, dad was tossing him up in the air and then sort of dropped him. I don’t know how it happened. But he was dropped, dad freaked out of course. Didn’t tell mom to much later, but that’s what me and Quinn think caused Charlie to be Charlie. And now you know his origin story. Dropped on the head as a child.”

Santana opened her mouth and then rolled her eyes when Brittany shot her a mischievous grin. She didn’t need her third eye to know that Brittany was merely bullshitting them. “He wasn’t dropped on his head as a child Antonio, she’s just trying to distract us.”

Antonio nodded, “Oh. Well when do you think Mr. Charlie will be back?”

“My brother probably won’t be back until it’s done. It’s just the way it is, once he has a problem he does everything he possibly can to solve it. So how about I tell you about Spot? I mean it’s not as good a name as Lord Tubbington but not everyone can have an awesome name like that.”

Antonio nodded, “Spot won’t do tricks for me.”

“Probably because she’s too smart and knows you’re just going to give her what she wants anyway. For your first dragon a Winchester is probably the best choice to be honest, smart, loyal, fiercely protective, and sentient and they don’t have some of the bad habits that _other_ dragons have. They aren’t attracted to shiny objects.”

“And she can spit fireballs!” Antonio said eagerly.

“I can see how that will be attractive to a young boy,” Brittany said looking at Santana. “She’s not doing that _all_ the time is she?”

“No, the worst is she just blows smoke at him and then walks away. I’m not sure that’s good for his lungs.”

Brittany chuckled, “She’s sassy, but I can train her not to do that. I mean she’ll probably nip his fingers instead—”

“Can she talk? Mr. Charlie said that she might be able to talk!” Antonio asked excitedly. His fears and worries gone as he focused on Spot who shot him a glance before putting her head back down on Brittany’s lap.

“Charlie doesn’t really care about the different species of dragon, or any animal in my bestiary. It’s quite probable that he thought he summoned you a Greyling, which does have the ability to talk but Spot is a Winchester, they don’t talk. They do however understand everything that is going on around them. She’s intelligent has an excellent self-awareness. Also I don’t think she _does_ tricks.”

“But Mr. Charlie said—”

“Oh I’m sure you can train her to sit and whatever, most other Winchesters would probably do it for you to make you go away. I’m saying Spot doesn’t do tricks. You probably wouldn’t like it if someone told you to roll over. Or speak on command.”

Antonio’s brow furrowed at this, she was right that didn’t quite sound like fun. “Oh, but she listens to Mr. Charlie—where is he?”

“I’m sure my brother is fine. It’s his thing, he goes after Thunder Giants, and he’s fine. He goes after a Mongolian death worm and is fine. He tries to drink a dwarf under the table—well mom needed to do the magical equivalent of pumping his stomach, but he was fine.” Brittany said cheerfully.

Santana snorted at the mental image of Charlie drunk, she’d pay for anything to see the normally socially awkward Magician drunk off his ass. “So what you’re saying is that he’ll be fine? I mean even if he holds back?”

Brittany was about to answer when her phone rang, “Yeah, he’s pretty durable,” she frowned as she glanced at her mom’s face flashing on her phone. That never boded well for any one of them. “One second, it’s my mother.” She said answering her call. “Mom—”

Santana winced, she could hear Mrs. Fabray practically yelling on the phone. “Is everything okay?” She finally asks when Brittany ends the call.

Brittany smiled and even though she felt guilty about doing it she needed them calm. So maybe giving them a small push with her abilities was wrong especially with what Santana had been through but she needed them to not panic. “Yeah, we just need to go my parent’s place. Charlie’s there, so don’t worry. Mom always gets worked up when he scrapes his knee, and apparently it’s _my_ fault since I’m the oldest.” They would find out about his left hand when they got there.

 


End file.
